Karnataka: External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar interacts with participants of the Women Start-up Programme (WSP) at IIM Bangalore. Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIMB, talks about the power of start-ups incubated at academic institutions like the IITs and the IIMs in the context of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
“The India you step into as you start off with your careers will be fundamentally different form the country how it was when you started your studies,” said External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar, while addressing the students of IIM Bangalore on Atmanirbhar Bharat, this morning.
“So, India will be different in terms of its skills, demand, entrepreneurial and business acumen, and this change is linked to the implementation of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Self-reliant, not protectionist,” he added.
Pointing out to a sense of pride linked to a sense of India, he said, “The belief that this new India is destined for a greater place in the world, is happening due to the effective realization of sustainable goals. Our schemes are aligned to such goals. And realizing these goals will change the socio-economic landscape of the country and uplift our human resources.”
He listed some of the tools to attain these goals like physical infrastructure, urbanization, smart cities, digital policies, innovation push, etc. “All these are needed to create energies and using these energies through technology which in turn results in delivery.”
He said although primary education in the country has developed significantly, the number of premium higher education institutions had to increase, along with raising tertiary education and building vocational skills.
He described the COVID experience as very enlightening and instructive. Vaccine development, 2 billion shots, and the CoWIN platform - an organised digital platform that guided India through the whole vaccination process - are all "amazing" examples of a more self-reliant India, he noted.
“If we apply the same mindset to our perennial challenges, we can come up with sustainable solutions for them. The COVID experience taught us that in times of stress, not being Atmanirbhar can become a national security vulnerability issue. We need to utilize and leverage our connect with the world to build our indigenous capacities. We need to facilitate ease of doing business, and be a manufacturing economy, along with being a service economy,” he said.
Dr. Jaishankar's address to the audience was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Prof. Sourav Mukherji, Dean of Alumni Relations & Development and faculty in the OB&HRM area, during which the minister answered questions about India's foreign policy, his thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine situation, border tensions with China, the growing power of Regional Pacts, and his own career path from diplomat to politician.
