Charkha, kite-flying, innovation, all in a day

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, January 17

Raising the friendship between India and Israel to a new level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hosted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sarah in home state of Gujarat, playing guide at the Sabarmati Ashram and other places of joint interest.

The greetings, “Prime Minister Modi. My dear, dear friend”, by Netanyahu and “Aliechem Shalom” by his Indian counterpart summed up the bonhomie between the two leaders. Netanyahu, who ended his brief addresses with the slogan “Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel”, described Modi as a “visionary Prime Minister” who was leading the country to a new level of development. “We both are young in our thoughts and optimistic about the future of our countries,” he said.

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Modi received the Netanyahus at the airport from where they travelled in an 8-km road show to the Sabarmati Ashram to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. They spent nearly 20 minutes at the ashram, paying floral tributes at Gandhi’s statue. The couple also tried their hands on the “charkha”, the spinning wheel that Gandhi used during his time at the ashram between 1919 and 1930.

In the visitors’ book, Netanyahu called the visit to the ashram “inspiring”. “An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity’s great prophets of inspiration — Mahatma Gandhi,” the Israeli PM wrote.

The dignitaries then flew to Bavla, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, where they dedicated to the nation the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), which aims to develop an ecosystem in India to generate quality entrepreneurs. iCreate was launched in 2011 by Modi when he was the Chief Minister. The leaders expressed optimism that future technologies would be developed jointly by forging entrepreneurial alliances amongst youth.

“I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more ‘i’ that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate. Israel wants to build partnership with you,” Netanyahu said.

Modi reciprocated by invoking Israeli determination for thinking big and innovation. He said India was working towards providing similar environment to its young entrepreneurs. “We are working towards making entire system innovation-friendly, as intent leads to ideas, ideas to innovation and innovations would help form a New India.”

The visiting PM also gifted Gal-Mobile, a mobile jeep for water desalination and purification to make drinking water available on the spot by converting the saline and brackish water, to India. Both witnessed the demonstration of the vehicle, stationed at Suigam on the India-Pakistan border in north Gujarat district of Banaskantha. The BSF and villagers will benefit from clean drinking water using Gal-Mobile.

The two also visited the Centre of Excellence for vegetables at Vadrad village in Sabarkantha district. The Centre has been developed under Indo-Israel Agriculture Work Plan for exchange of technology for advanced farming. It provides day-long training to farmers on best practices of net-house farming and provides guidance for developing plug nurseries and green houses.

“Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core. As we work towards doubling the farm income by 2022, factors such as optimum utilisation of land resources, minimum wastage and understanding the needs of the market assume prime importance,” said Modi. The Israeli PM later left for Mumbai.

Earlier at the Sabarmati Ashram, Modi showed his guests personal collections of Gandhi and at the adjacent riverfront on the banks of the Sabarmati, the two Prime Ministers briefly experienced kite-flying as the festival of kites “Uttarayan” is currently on in the state.