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Modi has harnessed yoga as a cultural soft power to stretch his nation's diplomatic reach and flex his country's rising place in the world. FILE - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga to mark International Day of Yoga in Dehradun, India, Thursday, June 21, 2018. NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister has a reputation for casting himself as an ascetic. So when Narendra Modi leads foreign dignitaries and bureaucrats in a session for International Yoga Day on Wednesday at the United Nations’ Secretariat in New York, millions of Indians will take note. Yoga, an ancient discipline first practiced by Hindu sages, is now one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. And it’s become a piece of India’s diplomacy Surinder Goel, a 61-year-old yoga instructor in the capital, New Delhi, practices daily. He says the activity is “India’s contribution to the world.” “Our prime minister has done a great job in spreading yoga to the world,” Goel said. “Today, even t...

Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet here on Tuesday over two dozen thought leaders from various walks of life, including entrepreneur and Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk, astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson and Nobel laureate economist Paul Romer. Other notable personalities Modi would meet are author Nicholas Nassim Taleb and investor Ray Dalio, Falu Shah, Jeff Smith, Michael Froman, Daniel Russel, Elbridge Colby, Peter Agre, Stephen Klasko and Chandrika Tandon, officials said. There will be conversations to achieve better synergy, understand the developments in the US and invite people to collaborate with India among other issues on the agenda, they said. As a means to enhance people-to-people connections, Modi often meets thought leaders in the countries he visits, they noted. Prime Minister Modi will be in the cit...

In a phone conversation with President Zelenskyy on October 4 last year, Modi said that there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  NEW DELHI: Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova has conveyed to her Indian interlocutors Kyiv's desire to build a stronger and closer relationship with New Delhi. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dzhaparova handed over the letter to the Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi during a meeting on Tuesday. The MEA said the next round of foreign office consultations between the two sides will be held in Kyiv on a mutually convenient date. The First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine wrapped up her three-day visit to India on Wednesday. It was the first...

The PM added that the new airport is going to open doors of development for Shivamogga, the land of nature, culture and agriculture. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa. SHIVAMOGGA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the day is not far when Indian citizens will fly in only Made-in-India passenger aircraft. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the newly-built Shivamogga Airport at Sogane near here, Modi said the demand for more aircraft is increasing by the day and even though the country is importing aeroplanes now, it will soon become self-reliant in manufacturing its own fleet.  The PM spoke in Kannada for a while and raised the slogan, Sirigannadam Gelge, Sirigannadam Balge (Kannada shall triumph and Kannada shall flourish). He also recited the state anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate, Jayahe Karnataka Maate, penned by Rashtrakavi K...