The Beast, FCC Newsletter, August 2023 The Governing Committee of FCC South Asia for 2023-25 is looking forward to meet and greet you, and also implement wonderful plans to make the Club a vibrant and happening place. We are now again organising events at the FCC's well-equipped auditorium and the lawns. August 2023 issue of our newsletter The Beast with a story on the interaction with Nepal Ambassador to India and book discussion on PM Modi. You may kindly share interesting stories/experiences during your reporting assignments, and news about journalists who arrive in India or depart after completing their assignment, with The Beast's Editor Simran Sodhi. Contact her at simraj68@yahoo.com

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS   FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT Inga Davydova RT Head of RT’s branch office   JOURNALIST ASSOCIATES Ajit Singh Doordarshan Virendra Kapoor FREELANCE Arindam Majumder The Economic Times C. Raja Mohan Foreign Policy Farheen Fatima News Bridge Ramesh Manocha Hind Post Media   GENERAL ASSOCIATES Siddharth Kumar Pandey Novelist and Freelance Writer Manan Bhan Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)   DIPLOMAT ASSOCIATE Ranjan Sen Diplomat Associate   ABOUT FCC SOUTH ASIA   The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia is a group of more than 700 journalists and photographers covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan and Tibet. New members are always welcome: The club was started by “Foreign” correspondents, or those who work for news outlets outside of the region. However, we welcome journalists from Indian newspapers, magazines, television channels and news portals. In addition to journalists, we also admit diplomats, lawyers, and people dealing with the media from non-governmental organizations and companies as Associate Members. As India’s economy has boomed in recent years, and conflict continued to grip Afghanistan and other neighboring areas, the FCC has become an important meeting point for far-flung travelling journalists to reconnect and recharge. The club has also substantially expanded what it offers to members, to include more press conferences, sports match screenings, book launches and other cultural events.   JULY 2023 EVENTS   NEPAL-INDIA RELATIONS TODAY 6:30pm, July 24, 2023 A Special Talk by SHANKAR PRASAD SHARMA, Nepal’s Ambassador to India   PRIME MINISTER MODI: TWO DIFFERING VIEWS 6.30pm, July 8, 2023

FCC hosts Nepal Ambassador to India and book discussion on PM Modi On July 17, the FCC hosted authors Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay and Shashi Shekhar for a discussion on their respective books on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mukhopadhyay is the author of ‘Narendra Modi: The man, the Times’ while Shekhar has written ‘Collective Spirit, Concrete Action: Mann ki Baat and its influence on India. It proved to be an engaging conversation as both authors gave their views, at times, differing ones on the PM. Mukhopadhyay, who has followed Modi from the days before he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat to the present, said that one of the qualities that make Modi a success is his hard work. He pointed out that Modi has the ability to also communicate very well and to “learn on the job”. He pointed out that if one was to compare his speeches of the past to now, it is evident that he has improved, which mean he takes feedback and makes changes. Shekhar spoke on how excessive negativity in news media reporting on India by global media outlets has resulted in Modi being perceived through a narrow prism. “India's approach to Developmental change at a Scale of a Billion people is in stark contrast to China's and is an example for the Global South to emulate,” he pointed out. Shekhar also said that Mann ki Baat provides a window into how societal scale behavioural change can be persuaded and motivated. He said that on the one side are those who see the glass as half empty and locate their politics in grievance and victimhood while on the other side is the Modi led NDA that sees the glass as half full with a vision of a developed India by 2047. On July 24, the FCC hosted Nepal Ambassador to India, Shankar Prasad Sharma for a talk on the current state of India-Nepal relations. The envoy answered a wide range of questions from India-Nepal relations to Agniveer scheme and also to the China angle when it comes to the geopolitics of the region. When asked about the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he said that nine projects have been identified under the BRI, but none of them funded yet. “Now, there is a controversy in Nepal that the loan that we received from China for the Pokhara airport is under BRI. The Nepal government is saying we have not taken any loan under BRI. But when China said it is a BRI project, they probably have a different kind of definition…from our perspective we have not taken any loan under BRI,” the ambassador pointed out. He also spoke about the recruitment of Gorkhas from Nepal to the Indian Army under the Agniveer scheme which has been put on “pause”, but the matter has not been closed. He added that presently no “serious discussion” is taking place on the issue between the two governments. “I don’t think this is a closed subject. India has developed some kind of mechanism in Agnipath, and would like to use the same mechanism to recruit from Nepal. Nepal is saying something different. We would like to go for the older system. That is what it is,” the Nepalese ambassador said. It was a packed house which kept questions coming for over an hour. --Simran Sodhi Design: Anil Yadav