00:00has been composed by Tamil poet philosopher and believed to date to somewhere between the 2nd century BC and 5th
00:11century CE.
00:12Exact dating is disputed of course and it has a collection of 1330 couplets organized in 233 chapters grouped under
00:23three heads
00:24and this is revered across Tamil Nadu as secular ethical text, cutting across religion and often invoked in Indian political
00:35and cultural discourse
00:36including by leaders who have cited parts of it in their speeches at UN.
00:42So that has been given, in fact it has been translated into dozens of languages.
00:48UNESCO and Tamil diaspora events regularly cited as one of the great works of world literature.
00:57So that is the background of it. Let me bring in Geeta Mohan as well.
01:02So Geeta, a lot of warmth, Bonhomie on display and this is of course what President Putin has told you
01:11on two occasions
01:12that you have met him in the last one year, that he emphasizes a lot on what Prime Minister Modi
01:21brings in into this diplomacy
01:23which has to do with his personal charisma and also the strength he has of 1.5 billion people.
01:33Sandeep, you know, Prime Minister Modi has often emphasized on personality-driven diplomacy
01:40and this is one relationship which is a classic example of that.
01:44Well, absolutely, you know, Maria, like I said, the India-Russia relationship is unique, it's extraordinary
01:50and this is a relationship that has continued from the times of the Soviet Union, that's almost going to be
01:5680 years next year
01:57and that, you know, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, people wondered whether India and the Russian Federation could
02:04continue that relationship
02:05and for a while, from 1991 to about 1999, it was in the doldrums, we really didn't have a friend
02:12in Russia
02:12but that changed when Vladimir Putin entered the Kremlin and that continued for 2000 onwards.
02:19For the last 25-26 years, we have seen this relationship, you know, touch new heights.
02:25It's not just, you know, energy but the foundational thing was, of course, the strategic partnership
02:33which, as Gaurav mentioned, you have the Advanced Technology Vessel Project
02:36which is a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine project which we've had Russian assistance for for several years now.
02:44That's been publicly acknowledged.
02:45That has helped India become one of the few countries in the world who field ballistic missile submarines.
02:51So this is the kind of technology that we share with Russia, the expertise that we get from them
02:56which no other country in the world is prepared to give us.
03:00So that tells you the kind of warmth, the comfort that the two countries have
03:04and now, of course, the challenge is to, Maria, take this relationship, translate this warm chemistry
03:10into a different level at the time that we're going through right now.
03:16It's one of the most turbulent phases in world history of the 21st century at least.
03:20It is, of course, the 25th anniversary of 9-11 today but what beyond that now you're looking
03:28at a world where, you know, where supply chains are being weaponized, you have conflicts,
03:33the Russia-Ukraine conflict, unending conflicts, Iran and the United States, you know, these kind
03:38of conflicts greatly impact us, they greatly impact India in its quest to become a developed country by 2047.
03:47So how does India navigate through all of this, this chaos that is, you know, around us in the neighborhood,
03:53you know, leverage our strategic partnerships with the United States, with Russia and even with China.
03:59We cannot do without either of these three countries. They're very important to us.
04:04And that is why, you know, bilaterals, the BRICS forums, they work so effectively for us.
04:10Our goal is set on 2047. We have to become a developed nation because it's not just about the numbers,
04:16Maria,
04:16it's about lifting the large mass of Indian people into becoming, you know, middle-class citizens.
04:24We've seen that, we've seen China do that in the last couple of decades. Now it is India's turn
04:29and India has to do it by 2047, Maria.
Comments