Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “the whole world is looking at India’s youth with hope. Because you are the growth engines of the country and India is the world’s growth engine.” Attending the 42nd Convocation of Anna University in Chennai, he said that the COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event. It was a once-in-a-century crisis that nobody had any user manual for. It tested every country.
He remarked that adversities reveal what we are made of. India faced the unknown confidently, thanks to its scientists, healthcare professionals and common people. As a result, he said, every sector in India is bustling with a new life. Industry, investment, innovation or international trade, all are seeing India at the forefront.
Modi said India was the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer last year. Innovation is becoming a way of life. In just the last 6 years, the number of recognised start-ups increased by 15,000 percent, he said.
The Prime Minister informed that India received a record FDI of over 83 billion dollars last year. Our start-ups too received record funding post-pandemic. Above all this, India’s position in the international trade dynamics is at its best ever.
In this era of tech-led disruptions, Modi said there are three important factors in India’s favour. The first factor is there is a taste for technology. There is a growing sense of comfort with the use of technology. Even the poorest of the poor are adapting to it.
“The second factor is there is trust in risk-takers. Earlier at social occasions it was difficult for a youngster to say he or she was an entrepreneur. People used to tell them to ‘get settled’, meaning, get a salaried job. Now the situation is the opposite. The third factor is: there is temperament for reform.”
He said that earlier, “there was a notion that a strong government means it should control everything and everyone. But we have changed this. A strong government does not control everything or everyone. It controls the system’s impulse to interfere. A strong government is not restrictive but is responsive. A strong government does not move into every domain. It limits itself and makes space for people’s talents.”
Governor of Tamil Nadu, R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Union Minister L Murugan were among those present on the occasion.
