Indore, 8 Jan: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday appealed to Non-Resident Indians to connect with aspirational India through technology and use its strong human resources in the interest of the world.
Speaking to reporters during the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) convention, he said the world’s perception of India changed soon after the Pokhran nuclear test in 1998.
It is our request to the NRI community to connect with us through technology and work together in the interest of not only India but also of the entire world. You have resources and we have human resources, Thakur said.
He said the government doesn’t see the overseas Indian community in terms of sending money from abroad to the country but wants to partner with them.
Instead of brain-drain, we talk about getting talent. We talk about connecting overseas Indians with aspirational India in the period of ‘Amrit-Kaal’ of Independence, he said.
Thakur said the world is looking towards India with hope and added the global outlook towards the country has already changed.
I had gone to Chicago in 1997 during my first visit to the US in connection with a trade exhibition. I picked up a newspaper in which it was printed that India, the country of snake charmers and beggars, is ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence. But the world’s perception of India changed soon after we conducted the successful nuclear test at Pokhran, he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the most popular leaders in the world.
Thakur said India is estimated to have a GDP growth rate of seven per cent this year and that the country is growing at a faster pace than the major economies of the world.
There are more than 81 crore internet connections in the country, he said, adding India leads the world in terms of digital financial transactions.
Last month, more than seven billion transactions took place on the BHIM UPI platform and around Rs 12.82 lakh crore was transferred, the Union minister said.
Thakur said India has a great opportunity to introduce its rich cultural heritage to the world through the current G20 presidency.
In the coming days more than 200 meetings of G20 will take place at more than 55 places in the country, he added.
The Union Minister also said technology is rapidly changing the way of working. When we talk about the future of work, we remember the ‘ABC’ formula wherein the ‘A’ stand for Artificial Intelligence, ‘B’ for Block Chain and ‘C’ for Cloud Computing, he said.
Thakur said in the future India will have the world’s most skilled manpower and its youth would contribute to global development through three “I”s- idea, Intent, and innovation. (PTI)