'State of the World' address: Modi to speak on India-centric issues

It seems that the World Economic Forum WEF Davos virtual summit has already set an agenda for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to deliver his special address on Monday evening at 830 pmFrom Covid19 putting pressure on the Indian healthcare system to Indias struggle with climate change specially mentioning the Mumbai floods Covids impact of Indian school children from the rural areas to new emerging mental health problems among the public the WEF has already mentioned all in its Indiacentric reportsIndia recently announced the establishment of a National Hydrogen Mission Indias ambitious fivepart Panchamrit pledge to reach net zero by 2070 was one of the most important announcements at Glasgow read one recent WEF report on India just three days before PM Modis State of the World special address in DavosNearly 40 per cent of the students in underprivileged households in India have not been studying during school closures according to a new reportOnly 1in4 children in India have access to a digital device and nearly half of the children in rural India have no means to study onlineAs a result India is experiencing a significant drop in literacy levelsIts feared that this could cause more children to drop out says This is how Covid19 lockdowns affected Indias school children WEF referring to a report which explained the impact of lockdown on the underprivileged school childrenOn gender inequality the WEF has already raised serious questions about the Indian governments claims saying the government and industry are bringing thinktanks civil society and community networks to support women merchants in IndiaFor example affordable mobile data public digital infrastructure and entrepreneurial innovations are all measures which have increased the amount of digital payments but there are still several barriers which are specific to women and one of the most important challenges to overcome is trustCiting an example of grocery stores in India WEF says the 12 million kirana stores employ 45 million people and account for 95 per cent of the countrys Rs 35 trillion market for food and groceries However only 2 per cent of the kirana stores have been digitized so far The rate is much lower for women and rural merchantsThe Davos Agenda 2022 is bringing together world leaders to address the state of the worldStarting Monday the weeklong virtual event will feature heads of state and government CEOs and other leaders discussing the critical challenges facing the world today and presenting their ideas on how to address themIn addition to PM Modi the world leaders delivering State of the World special addresses will include Japans Prime Minister Kishida Fumio United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Indonesian President Joko Widodo Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen and Nigerias VicePresident Yemi OsinbajoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever