International relations. Content Types A limited number of items are shown. Click to view More Video recordings for the hearing impaired Internet videos. Summary India is fast becoming a superpower, says Shashi Tharoor, and not just through trade and politics, but through "soft" power - its ability to share its culture with the world via food, music and movies, and technology.
In this TEDTalk, Tharoor argues that in the long run it's not the size of the army that matters as much as a country's ability to influence the world's hearts and minds.
Totally anhydrous correct incorrect. Totally amorphous correct incorrect. According to Tharoor, India has. The world's biggest economy and best food correct incorrect. The world's fourth largest army correct incorrect. The ability to project power globally correct incorrect.
The ability to become a "global leader" in all meanings of the term correct incorrect. Tharoor tells a story about the improvement and modernization of communications in India that includes two antiquated terms. If there was a dial tone and you dialed a number,. If you then wanted to connect to another city,. Or you could pay eight times the going rate. But, lightning struck rather slowly in our country in those days,. In fact, so woeful was our telephone service. And the Then-Communications Minister replied in a lordly manner.
Now, fast-forward to today and this is what you see:. But what is most striking is who is carrying those cell phones. You know, if you visit friends in the suburbs of Delhi,.
He's carrying a cell phone because most incoming calls are free,. The other day I was in Kerala, my home state,. And he whipped out his cellphone, dialed the number,.
And right on top of the nearest coconut tree,. Fishermen are going out to sea and carrying their cell phones. So this empowerment of the underclass. And that transformation is part of where India is heading today. And the second goat says, "No, the book was better. I usually tend to think that the book is usually better,. I've met a young man in New York whose illiterate mother. She can't understand the dialogue.
She's illiterate, so she can't read the French subtitles. But these movies are made to be understood despite such handicaps,. She goes away with stars in her eyes about India, as a result. And this is happening more and more. Afghanistan, we know what a serious security problem. Afghanistan is for so many of us in the world.
India doesn't have a military mission there. And it was the most popular television show in Afghan history. Every Afghan family wanted to watch it. They had to suspend functions at Weddings were reported to be interrupted. Crime went up at I have read a Reuters dispatch That's soft power. And that is what India is developing. I mean, the proliferation of Indian restaurants. But, today in Britain, for example,.
But, with this increasing awareness of India,. Stereotypes are changing. The Department also notes the appreciation expressed for the enhancement of the UN News Centre and development of the e-mail news service.
I should add here that this latter service is not directed principally to the person on the street, but to the mass media. In researching this audience base, we confirmed that the mass media in virtually every developing country does use e-mail. In the context of the many calls to enhance the multilingual nature of the UN web site, let me assure you that the Department is currently engaged in developing news sites in all official languages with a view to launching them in the course of this year, and is committed to their widest possible use in all regions of the world.
Where radio is concerned, we are particularly gratified to hear words of encouragement and support from several delegations regarding the live radio project. We are making every effort to improve the content and substance of the broadcasts in six official languages. In this context, I would like to express our sincere thanks to all those delegations who have graciously accorded timely interviews to our radio producers on a variety of issues.
By doing so you have helped us to craft the content of the messages and information you, the Member States, would like us to convey and share with our listeners. We look forward to working in this way with many more of you in the future.
While we are making efforts to assess the size of our radio audiences in various regions, I would like to point out that the major broadcasters who carry our programme—such as National China Radio, Voice of Cairo, Radio Nigeria, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Caracas, to mention just five—reach tens of millions of listeners every day. We heard the delegate of Nigeria inform us that the UN Radio programme in his country reaches 50 million listeners.
The distinguished representative of Jamaica, speaking on behalf of CARICOM, pointed out that an assessment of the live radio programmes should be based not only in terms of the numbers of active listeners, but on the effect that these programmes have in the regions.
I thank the distinguished representative for that insightful observation -- it is a point of view shared by the department. We are conscious that as an organization of Member States, a numerically small audience in a dozen different countries is as important as an audience of millions in just one country.
The representative of Jamaica has also called for more programmes with a Caribbean focus to complement what is already being carried in the live radio broadcasts.
In this regard, I wish to inform her that every Friday, the Caribbean Unit of the Radio Section produces and sends to the region, through the Caribbean media corporation,or directly to individual stations in that part of the world, a minute Caribbean news round-up magazine programme.
The contents of the programme focus specifically on Caribbean issues targeted to the peoples of the region. We will do all we can to sustain this programme and, whenever financial and human resources permit, to produce other programmes for the region. I only regret that we did not inform the Caribbean delegates earlier that we had initiated such a programme. We take note of the suggestion of the distinguished representative of Bangladesh regarding the rescheduling of the live broadcast time in Asia to the convenience of the larger audience.
We will explore that possibility. The distinguished delegate of Belarus, in his intervention, expressed a desire to see the live radio broadcasts are used to focus on and provide information on such issues as AIDS, Chernobyl, disarmament, terrorism and children.
The latter subject was also covered 42 times in the daily news segment of the Russian news programmes. And it is certain that the coverage of all these issues will continue to be given prominence in these broadcasts. On TV, the distinguished delegate from Spain, on behalf of the EU, proposed that the Secretary-General consider launching a feasibility study for a global TV satellite network, an intriguing proposal which we would certainly wish to explore within the obvious constraints of financial and staff resources, from which we suffer.
Unless we are able to mobilize such resources from external partners, I regret that such an idea may not be feasible for DPI to implement.
However, I am encouraged that this proposal has been made by the EU, since the Western Group is in the best position to help us find the financial and staff resources required for such an initiative. Such comments lead me to conclude that Member States find value and utility in what is the only authoritative reference work on the Organization and that they want the Department to continue to issue the Yearbook , irrespective of the cost involved in its production.
If my understanding is accurate, I trust that, as in the past, you might find it possible to reflect this in your draft resolution. I have received similar comments from others; last week a distinguished Canadian Senator, who is also a professor, told me the Chronicle is a vital tool for his graduate students and for those in the Senate.
The United States called for a close look at the Chronicle to ascertain whether the professional time and other costs involved in its production were justified in relation to its readership and impact, given that the magazine generally contains information that readers can easily find elsewhere, and also whether the human and financial resources should not be reprogrammed towards other DPI activities, such as enhancing the multilingual nature of the UN web site.
It has been stated, but bears repeating, that the impact and readership of the Chronicle are far greater than the subscriber base of 9, readers would indicate.
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