India to play role of Vishvaguru: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday that India will again play the role of a "Vishvaguru" or teacher to the world.

In an interaction with representatives of the civil society at the Fiji Technical University here, Modi said India would use the strengths of its democracy and young population to benefit mankind.

Saying the coming age would be one of knowledge and technology, Modi said it was essential to keep up the pace of new discoveries and inventions.

He said India's ancient sages had spoken about the country's global responsibility. He said that India would play a pivotal role in the coming "Gyan Yug" in the role of a "Vishvaguru".

The prime minister said India was giving priority to skill development to benefit the whole world. He talked about ending the digital divide.

Modi, who is in Fiji on the last leg of a 10-day three-nation tour, said New Delhi and Suva had many shared values and it was the responsibility of both sides to strengthen them.

Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of Fiji's population of nearly 900,000.

Most are descendants of indentured labourers who were brought by British rulers from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the country's sugarcane plantations.

Modi said Fiji's path of democracy would exert a positive influence in the wider Pacific region.

He also spoke of the initiatives he announced earlier. These include visa on arrival for citizens of Fiji and other Pacific island nations, a line of credit of $70 million for a power plant, doubling the number of scholarships and training slots in India for Fiji, and setting up of a special fund of $1 million to provide technical assistance and training for capacity building to Pacific island nations on global warming.