Amid a row over USAID funding for certain activities in the country, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Saturday said the information put out by Trump administration is “concerning” and the government is looking into it.
During an interaction at an event, he also said USAID was allowed in India “in good faith, to do good faith activities”, and suggestions are being made out of America that “there are activities which are in bad faith”.
“So, it surely warrants a look. And, if there is something to it, I think the country should know who are the people involved in the bad faith activities,” he said.
Jaishankar during the discussion also asserted that “our idea of security actually has to expand in a tech world”.
Besides, armed forces, civilian police ensuring law enforcement, security is also about “how your thought processes are influenced, how narratives are set, how facts are presented to you, how your mind moulded without you even knowing it,” he said.
“And, a lot of that is done through activities of NGOs, of tech, of rankings, you are made to believe your democracy isn’t working, it’s a very dangerous and Machiavellian…,” Jaishankar said, without naming any entity.
“Your security can be threatened without leaving your house, because the thought processes, the influences, the narratives, your morale, your sense of what is right and wrong is all influenced by your phone, what you read everyday, the pictures you see,” he said.
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