On the first day of his historic US state visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a group of academics who are in leadership positions in the US to discuss improving collaboration between India and US universities. Agricultural scientist Professor Rattan Lal said he had discussions with PM Modi on how agriculture can be a solution to climate change. "It was an excellent meeting. He has made us very proud of being Indian...we hope that we will have an opportunity to serve India through the policy that PM Modi has," Prof Lal said. Apart from Prof Lal, the group that met PM Modi comprised Dr Neeli Bendapudi, Dr Pradeep Khosla, Dr Satish Tripathi, Ms Chandrika Tandon, Prof Jagmohan Raju, Dr Madhav V Rajan and Dr Anurag Mairal.
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Pandemic healthcare was discussed in PM Modi's meeting with a group of healthcare experts including Nobel Laureate Dr Peter Agre, Dr Lawton Robert Burns, Dr Stephen Klasko, Dr Peter Hotez, Dr Sunil A David and Dr Vivian S Lee.
As PM Modi's day 1 in the US was marked with crucial meetings, PM Modi's meeting with Elon Musk stole the limelight as the Tesla CEO announced Tesla and Starlink's plan to come to India. Calling himself a 'fan of PM Modi', Elon Musk said he will be visiting the country next year.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson who met PM Modi said what India can accomplish has no limits. "Obviously, he reserved his conversations about space for me, and I guess Elon (musk) was here a few minutes before I got here. But it's clear that space matters quite a bit to the Prime Minister, so I was delighted to hear about future programs that he has in mind. I'm quite sure I'm not alone when I say the potential for what India can accomplish knows no limits," Tyson said.