Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the IIT-2020 Global Summit, organised by PanIIT USA, yesterday through a video conference.
The Prime Minister said that the Government is fully committed to the principle of “Reform, Perform, Transform”. He stressed that there is no sector left out from the ambit of reforms. He listed many path-breaking reforms brought in by the Government in various sectors such as assimilating 44 Union labour laws into just 4 codes, having one of the lowest corporate tax rate in the world, Production Linked Incentive Scheme in ten key sectors to enhance exports as well as manufacturing. He highlighted that even in these testing times of COVID-19, India has got record investment and much of this investment has come in the tech sector.
He said our actions today will shape our planet’s tomorrow. He stressed that the post Covid-19 order will be about: Re-learning, re-thinking, re-innovating and re-inventing. This, along with a series of economic reforms in almost every field is what will re-energise our planet. He said this will ensure ‘Ease of Living’ and positively impact the poor as well as marginalised. He said several innovations came out during the pandemic emerged from collaboration between the industry and academia. He said the world today needs viable solutions to adjust to the new normal.
The Prime minister said, the collective force of the PanIIT movement can add momentum to the dream of becoming an Aatmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India. He called the Diaspora, India’s Brand Ambassadors whose voice was critical in ensuring that the world understood India’s view-points in the right spirit.
Talking about the 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence in 2022, Shri Modi urged the PanIIT movement to set an even higher benchmark on “Giving back to India.” He asked them to share their ideas and inputs on how we can mark 75 years of freedom. “You could share your views MyGov. Or, you can share it directly with me on the Narendra Modi App” he added.
The Prime Minister said a culture of hackathons is developing in India in recent times and in these hackathons, young minds are giving out-standing solutions to national and global problems. He added that the Government is working with many countries in South East Asia and Europe to ensure that our youngsters get an international platform to showcase their skills and learn from best practices globally. He said India hosted the Vaibhav Summit which brought together top-quality talent in the fields of science and innovation. He added that this summit set the tone for future collaborations in science and innovation.
The Prime Minister said India is witnessing a sea change in the way it works. He said earlier, when IITs produced aero-space engineers, there was not a strong domestic industrial ecosystem to employ them. Today, with the historic reforms in the Space sector, the last frontier before humanity has opened up to Indian talent. That’s why new space tech startups are coming up every day in India. He expressed confidence that some of those in the audience would boldly go where none have gone before. Cutting edge and innovative work is happening across many sectors in India.
Today, a large number of IIT alumni are in global leadership positions spread across industry, academia, arts, governments. Therefore he urged the alumni to debate, discuss and contribute to solutions in the emerging New World Tech Order.