Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met a parade of intellectuals, business leaders and health experts, making a pitch for investments in India and discussing a range of subjects from economic development and space exploration to Buddhism and the “scientific temperament” on the first day of his visit to the US.
The meeting that drew the most attention was with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Musk, who also owns Twitter, said after the meeting that he was a “fan” of Modi and that he would bring the electric vehicle and battery maker to India as soon as it was “humanly possible”.
Modi tweeted: “Great meeting you today @elonmusk! We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality.”
At his meeting with hedge fund founder, investor and author Ray Dalio, Modi “highlighted reforms undertaken by the government to foster economic growth, including reduction of compliances and decriminalisation of large number of legal provisions”, and invited him to invest in India, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
After meeting Nicholas Nassim Talib, the thinker who is known for explaining how quirks of history impact mankind, Modi tweeted that he “has interesting perspectives on many issues and I had the opportunity to hear them on some of those subjects”.
“He was greatly interested in India’s development strides. I emphasised on how we are nurturing a spirit of enterprise and risk-taking among our youth,” he added.
Taleb tweeted that they discussed risks, reaction to Covid, how successful interventions like controlling the virus that averted catastrophes look excessive in hindsight and “repeated small losses vs. blowup risk”.
Modi’s meeting with Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Romer touched on “India’s digital journey”, including the use of the biometric identification system Aadhaar and Digilocker, which enables universal paperless access to government documents, according to Bagchi.
“Talks also covered various initiatives being undertaken by India for urban development,” he added.
With Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist who popularises science, Modi discussed “inculcating scientific temperament among youth” and India’s space exploration missions”, Bagchi tweeted.
Modi and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman spoke about “how Buddhist values can act as guiding light for finding solutions to global challenges” and India’s efforts to preserve that religion’s heritage, according to Bagchi.
Modi tweeted that he admires “his passion towards research and scholarship” on Buddhism.
The Prime Minister met with the Grammy-winning musicianA Falguni Shah, better known as Falu Shah whose song, “Abundance in Millets” raises awareness of healthy and environment-friendly millets, Bagchi tweeted.
