In a recent media interaction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has compared social media and the emergence of fake news to how the Indian media covered the Kandahar hijack of 1999; he was speaking at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum on September 25. He said, “at the time of Kandahar hijack, the media was very new and made mistakes in covering it but they tried working on them”. He also noted that the times have changed and “today’s media is very competitive”.

Social media for good governance: PM Modi added that social media is a very powerful instrument of democracy, however, negative news is being spread in an unorganized way. He said that as the head of the Indian government, he would like to use social media “as a good weapon for good governance”. He also said that people should “first check” when they receive news on social media before forwarding it to others.

When asked how he plans to reach a $5 trillion economy and reform the economy, PM Modi said that India will have to match its “laws and rules with the global standard and give safety to the foreign investors”. He said that Digital India and start-ups are the top priorities for establishing the $5 trillion economies by 2024.

He added that the government in India is working towards improving the business environment in the country and the decision to cut corporate tax is a “positive message” in this direction. He also noted that Indian youth is the largest user of the app economy, stating that India will soon overtake other nations to become the world’s largest app user economy.

PM Modi was in the United States to attend the ‘Howdy Modi’ event and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGM) meeting. He later attended the Bloomberg Global Business Forum and has invited American business leaders to participate more actively in India’s economic growth and transformation.