Only birds tweeted, and Amazon was a forest: PM Modi recalls massive changes in 20 years

Recalling the times, he said in 1997, Harry Potter was an unheard name, tweeting was done only by birds and Amazon referred to dense forests in 1997. 

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he is the first Indian PM in two decades to attend the World Economic Forum since H D Deve Gowda in 1997, he focussed on the changes that have taken place in the first during this time. "In 1997, India's GDP was a little more than USD 400 billion, but now it has increased more than six-times," he said.

Recalling the times, he said in 1997, Harry Potter was an unheard name, tweeting was done only by birds and Amazon referred to dense forests in 1997. The Indian economy has changed significantly since then and so has the rest of the world.

"Also, chess players did not have any big fear of the computer while Google was not there in cyber space and Amazon of that time was about dense forests. Tweeting was done by birds at that time and not by humans," he said.


Noting the challenges that the world is facing, he said: "We believe in linking people, not bending them or breaking them. But the challenges the world faces are as numerous as they are daunting. Mountains of data are getting created and there is a race to control those as the feeling is that the one who gets control of this data would rule the world," he said.

He also stated that climate change and terrorism are grave concerns before the world and asserted that terrorism is dangerous but what is equally dangerous is the "artificial distinction" made between 'good terrorist' and 'bad terrorist'.

He also said India's position on the menace of terrorism is well known.