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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed confidence that people-to-people ties between India and Russia will grow further with the translation of the Thirukkural into Russian, as he gifted the Russian version of the classical Tamil scripture to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral talks in New Delhi.
PM Modi, while gifting the scripture to Putin, said that it includes the "entire gamut of human life". "Two thousand years ago, Thiruvalluvar wrote the Thirukkural. It includes the entire gamut of human life. It has been translated into the Russian language. I am confident that the people-to-people contact will increase with the translation of the Thirukkural into Russian, which will play a big role in strengthening our relations," PM Modi told Putin. In a subsequent post on X, PM Modi wrote, "Presented President Putin with a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, which carries the eternal wisdom of the great Thiruvalluvar across languages and borders." The Thirukkural is a classical Tamil text composed by the weaver-saint Thiruvalluvar. Consisting of 1,330 couplets (kurals), each just two lines long, the Kural is a manual for righteous living that makes no appeal to a specific god, caste, or creed. Instead, it rests on universal values: aram (virtue), porul (wealth and statecraft) and inbam (love). The Thirukkural is revered by Tamils as a sacred scripture and is often called the Tamil Veda. It is also regarded by scholars worldwide as a masterpiece of aphoristic literature. The exchange took place as Putin arrived in New Delhi ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, being hosted by India on September 12 and 13. Putin was welcomed upon arrival by Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh. According to sources, among the likely points for discussion is the achievement of an ambitious bilateral trade target, with India and Russia aiming to take bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030. Earlier, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had called for an accelerated India-Russia economic and industrial partnership, urging businesses from both countries to work towards achieving the USD 100 billion target in bilateral trade by 2030. Addressing the INNOPROM India 2026 Co-Chair Plenary Session alongside Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov in New Delhi, Goyal said increasing bilateral trade from the current level of around $60 billion to $100 billion would require adding nearly $40 billion over the next four years and sustaining double-digit annual growth. Sources said the success of INNOPROM in India is also on the agenda of the discussion between Putin and PM Modi. Bringing INNOPROM to India has paved the way for expanding industrial cooperation with Russia, more collaboration in the rail sector and tunneling, developing the steel value chain, creating more B2B opportunities and broadening access to the Russian market. INNOPROM-The International Industrial Exhibition is a global platform that brings together manufacturers and buyers from around the world. It provides an opportunity to showcase cutting-edge technologies, access the international market, and serves as an effective B2B platform for productive networking. Sources added that the two leaders will delve on strengthening civil nuclear cooperation including fuel cycle and life cycle support, increasing cooperation in mobility, increasing Indian skilled labour to Russia, cooperation in Critical Minerals and sustaining and increasing cooperation in fertilisers through strategic JV projects. India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13. India's Chairship is guided by the theme Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability, with development, sustainability and innovation forming key areas of focus. BRICS has emerged as an important platform for coordination among major emerging economies and for advancing the interests of the Global South in multilateral institutions. Its agenda covers development, finance, technology, trade and people-to-people exchanges. The grouping currently comprises 11 countries, i.e. Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE. Collectively, the BRICS members account for around 49.5 per cent of the global population, 40 per cent of global GDP and 26 per cent of global trade, according to background information on India's 2026 Chairship. India's BRICS Chairship comes amid global economic fragmentation, technological disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change and resource pressures. For India, the 2026 Chairship is focused on translating the expanded representation of BRICS into meaningful cooperation and tangible outcomes, while building consensus among its diverse members and strengthening the effectiveness of existing mechanisms. (ANI)
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