Now Reading: Modi pitches yoga, films, gaming as India’s soft power tools
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Modi pitches yoga, films, gaming as India’s soft power tools
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day address from the Red Fort to call for a strategic push on India's soft power. He urged the country to expand the global reach…
The Story in Brief
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day address from the Red Fort to call for a strategic push on India's soft power. He urged the country to expand the global reach of yoga, Ayurveda, handicrafts, films, VFX, animation, gaming, and digital content to strengthen its global influence.
Modi said yoga had connected the entire world with India and proposed a 'Healing India' movement to promote Ayurveda and holistic healthcare. He also unveiled a seven-point reform framework called 'Saptadhara' to accelerate India's development into a developed nation by 2047. The PM added that India's forests, over 100 national parks, and the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) should be used to attract more foreign tourists and showcase the country's creative strengths.
The Indian Opinion
The 'Saptadhara' is a catchy soundbite, but soft power built on yoga mats and movie screens needs a foundation of hard infrastructure. The PM rightly ticks off India's creative industries and traditional medicine, yet the gap between ambition and reality is wide. The WAVES summit is still unknown to most Indians. The concrete test will be a measurable rise in foreign tourist arrivals and export earnings from animation and VFX over the next five years. Else, this is just another bullet point in a speech.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
