The Indian Panorama Editor Indrajit Saluja interviewed Ambassador Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, Consul General of India at New York. This is the fourth part of the interview.

 Consul General of India at New York Mr. Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, a few days after joining the present position on 19th July 2020  in an interview with The Indian Panorama, had spelt out  in brief  his  priorities which included nourishing and  strengthening the already strong bonds between India and the US, and exploring  new areas of cooperation and relationship in diverse fields of  economy, trade, technology, and   culture etc. Ambassador Jaiswal added  that serving the Indian Diaspora remained the primary focused concern of  the Consulate. The strengthening of multi-stake holders relationship will be another priority, he said. The Indian Panorama interviewed him a couple of times, and each time, Mr. Jaiswal was forthcoming on all issues raised ,and questions asked.

Three days to the end of the year 2022, Mr. Jaiswal agreed to sit with the editor of The Indian Panorama to share for the readers of the publication his thoughts. It was a long interview in which Ambassador Jaiswal touched upon all the aforementioned areas.

In the part 1 of the interview published two weeks ago, Ambassador Jaiswal focused on the vibrant Indian American community and its contribution.

In part 2 of the interview, we brought  to readers Ambassador’s perspective on Indian students as a powerhouse of knowledge, catalysts of  national integration, and promoters  of Indian arts, culture and values.

In this third part of the interview, Ambassador Jaiswal spoke  about promoting economic relations between the two nations as one of the important functions of the Consulate, besides reiterating what he had said in the first part of the interview that the Consulate is “committed to public service”.

In this  fourth part of the interview, Ambassador Jaiswal outlines the big events planned in the year 2023.

Here are some excerpts from the interview.

TIP: It is wonderful to know  the good things and the great things you have been doing. Hopefully you will  continue with them in 2023. Do  we have any specific events which are worth mentioning that you have planned for 2023?

Ambassador:There’ll be a big 2023. As far as India is concerned, we will be taking over the presidency of G20. So that’s a big occasion for us. India will be leading the world in a sense. 20 countries of the world, big countries of the world, they account for 85% of the GDP, will have the meetings, which, in fact, have already started.  India will have the summit meeting somewhere in Septemberor  in the middle of the  year or thereabout. So that will be a big occasion for us to welcome leaders from across the world , and show them how it can contribute to inclusive growth, how it can contribute in solving the challenges of the world, how it can contribute to peace and security of the world,  how it can contribute to making the world a more progressive place for one and all, you know issues like inclusive growth, how we have dealt with public digital goods, which is a huge example. India’s  success is a huge example everywhere today. 40% of digital payments worldwide having made in India utilize technology platform and digital economy and digital platforms to pull out public services. And everybody has much to say about it. India’s FinTech platform, UPI is a major success and a global talking point today. The  approach we have on women empowerment, for example, the President of India is  an inspirational figure. Today, India counts for the highest number of women pilots in the world in terms of percentage, 12 and a half percentage. So,  all these good stories we want to tell. Even in a startup ecosystem, large number of them are led by women directors, women founders, very good story to tell. We want to tell  how we can contribute to the  World meeting Sustainable Development goals,  the world meeting climate change challenge, etc. We have much to contribute. We will see all this happening next year, as  India leads the G 20 as its president.

Then next year we have is International Year of Millets what we call mota anaj in  our country. We piloted a resolution in the United Nations. It was India’s initiative. And thereafter now the United Nations will be celebrating International Year of Millets  across the world. The  Food and Agriculture Organization which is based in Rome will take the lead.  All our embassies and consulates will take lead and of course in India you will have functions throughout the year. The idea behind promoting millet is that millets  are  useful health wise and water wise. So, while it helps you being healthy,  at the same time,  it helps you in  taking climate change action. You know with less water you can produce more. And then of course,  there are several other benefits. There are benefits for farmers also.If you create a market for small and marginal farmers, they will get more income in their hands. So, it helps everybody. Thirty or forty years back everybody in India was given to eating millets, but somehow because of various factors, people moved away from eating them. But millets are back. If  you go to Indian restaurants in  Manhattan, there is something of millet which is available. So, we’ll try to do our best to promote consumption of millets.  In today’s world of sustainability and climate change action everybody is looking for a healthy diet. And, there are so many things that India has to offer, that  will promote trade from India. It will also promote sustainability in general.

TIP:That  was at the national level. What have you planned here at the Consulate in 2023?

Ambassador:There are a lot of activities  that we have definitely planned.  26th  January, of course. We will have  the reception after two years of COVID induced routine that we had, for which  we could not hold the reception to celebrate India’s Republic Day. Hopefully we’llhave no problem and we will celebrate India’s Republic Day and we’ll celebrate it with Indian  color,  Indian twist and with Indian millet dishes.

We have SwamiVivekananda birthday on 12 January coming up. We’ll have a program on Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary. He visited United States in 1893.  American people’s attitude towards India changed the way he spoke about Indian philosophy and thought. People in America were able to better appreciate his thoughts because he  spoke their  language- the language which is universal. So the universality of India, the universalism of Indian thought was brought to the audience here. What he was also able to make an impact on is  the way modernity was defined here. He brought spirituality,  spiritual understanding to be part of  modernity.  I think his legacy and his wisdom and his guidance will help us go forward. The first Vedanta society he established was  here in New York, even before it was established in India. So, he has a huge imprint on the city. So,  we have a busy calendar.  We have Republic Day. We have the international year of millets. We will have several food festivals during the food festival year.

TIP:Is there a date?

Ambassador:No. It is  the whole year.  We will have top shows on millets we’ll be giving gifts  made of millets-biscuits for example, and such stuff. Then, we want to promote Indian coffee here. Indian coffee exports have seen a significant jump. We want to promote coffee coming from Karnataka. Coffee has a big  market.. We have  had programs to promote  Indian coffee before but we will have several new programs. We want to promote our superfoods. We also promote Indian wellness products. Wellness products are doing very well internationally. We also have a plan to promote tiles, tile exports from India. There are three or  four countries which are our major competitors-  Spain, Italy, China, etc. We have a presence here in the United States. But we can compete with the best. Indian tiles are doing very well in the Middle East and other markets. We have a presence here but we want to expand the presence. We also want to strengthen collaboration between startup ecosystem here in the US and in India.

TIP:So,  apart from what you have said just now there are so many more. One question about the celebration of days of various States and their language and culture. Have  you drawn up a plan for 2023?

Ambassador: Yes. We have several programs lined up as part of the languages series.We also have  the states that we celebrate here -Gujarat Day,  Maharashtra Day, Punjab Day,  Bihar Day etc.

                                                                                   (To be Concluded…)