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What is the news?
The Prime Minister of India has virtually addressed the Summit for Democracy.
What is the Summit for Democracy?
The Summit for Democracy was a virtual summit hosted by the United States to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad.
Themes: The three themes of the summit are defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and advancing respect for human rights.
Invitees: There were 110 countries invited to the summit. The invitees from the Asia-Pacific region include India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Pakistan, Maldives and the Philippines but not Bangladesh. However, Pakistan skipped the summit.
Initiatives launched at the Summit for Democracy
– Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal: Under this Initiative, the US administration plans to provide funds for supporting free and independent media, fighting corruption, strengthening democratic reforms, advancing technology for democracy and defending free and fair elections.
What are the key highlights of Indian PM’s address to the summit?
Democratic Spirit in Indian Civilizations: The democratic spirit is integral to Indian civilization. India had elected republican city-states such as Licchavi and Shakya as far as 2,500 years back.
Elements of Democracy: The basic elements such as multi-party elections, an independent judiciary, and free media are structural features of democracy. However, the strength of democracy is the spirit and ethos that lie within our citizens and our societies.
Global Norms for Technology: The international community must jointly shape global norms for technology such as social media and cryptocurrencies so that they are used to empowering democracy, not undermine it.
| Must Read: Need global collaboration to regulate cryptos: Modi |
Source: This post is based on the following articles
“PM moots social media, cryptocurrency norms” published in The Hindu, and “Summit for democracy: Need global norms for crypto, social media, says PM Modi” published in Indian Express on 11th Dec 2021 respectively.
