World's perception of India has changed in one year: Modi

Seoul Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Indian community in Seoul said on Monday that the worlds perception of India has changed since his government took over a year ago and that humanity lay at the centre of the countrys foreign policyAddressing a cheering 1500strong Indian community here Modi said a key component of his governments foreign policy is the Act East Policy Earlier it was Look East Policy We have seen that for a long time he said in a swipe at the previous UPA government amid chants of Modi ModiHe also said that the I or India among the BRICS bloc of countries had begun to teeter and stumble but after his government came to power India is moving fast on the growth pathEconomists had changed their tune and began saying that the aI of BRICS is stumbling and fallinga They said that BRICS was losing its importance because the aIaiquest has begun teetering ludak gayaBut in the past year things have changed and the world feels that without I BRICS will not be possible he said to cheering crowdModi said all the international rating agencies like Moodys and the World Bank have in the past two months in one voice said that India is the worlds fastest moving economyEarlier we would wonder if India would figure in Asian century story But now the way India has risen they feel that the 21st century will definitely be the Asian centuryHe said that manavta or humanity was at the centre of his governments foreign policy which was visible in the way India helped in Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake helped bring drinking water to Maldives when its drinking water plant was damaged and also saw passage of a constitution amendment bill to implement the Land Boundary Agreement with BangladeshHe said his government successfully evacuated over 4000 Indians from warravaged Yemen bombings and firings We requested Saudi authorities to stop the bombing for two hours and brought back our people as well as 48 foreign nationals Even America told its people to contact us to evacuate them from Yemen he said to loud applauseIn Yemen we evacuated Pakistanis too They too saved Indians and arranged for a special plane to bring them back The point here is manavta humanityHe said earlier foreign policy was dictated by trade and commerce and big sounding wordsWe have chosen a new path of humanity and to keep manavta as the kendrabindu centrepoint of our foreign policyHe said the concept of SAARC is getting a new impetus on the basis of humanity which is helping bring countries togetherHe said the Sri Lankan government desisted in carrying out the death sentence on five Indian fishermen on the basis of humanityHe mentioned the release of Indian aid worker Father Alexis Premkumar Antonysamy in Afghanistan more than eight months after he was kidnapped by the Taliban He said the land swap with Bangladesh had not taken place ever since the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement was inked due to doubts and misunderstandings But his government resolved it in one year Modi thanked all political parties for the passage of the bill in parliamentModi said India helped Nepal during the quake and that Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said publicly that he learnt of the quake from Modis twitter postHe said India ran to wipe the tears after the Nepal quake and will stand shoulder to shoulder with its neighborEarlier Modi arrived from Ulan Bator in Mongolia on the third and final leg of his threenation tour He was in China earlierHe lay a wreath at the Seoul National Cemetery His address to the Indian community was the second event in Seoul