JOIN USBacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day call, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday asked the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) to focus on how to become a source for meeting technology needs of the government and become a harbinger of the vision—“Make in India, Made in India”.
Addressing the first-ever conference of chairmen, board of governors and directors of IITs convened by him, the President noted that India was still importing technology, starting from security features and papers for Indian currency to defence equipment, despite its technical capabilities.
“We need to see how technologies developed by IITs and future research in IITs can be used to meet the technology requirements of the nation. The Council of IITs should focus on how IITs can become a source for meeting the government’s technology needs, and become a harbinger of the vision ‘Make in India’ and ‘Made in India’,” he said.
Addressing the conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also called upon the IITs to provide innovative solutions to daily problems of the masses.
“Science is universal. Technology must be local,” he said.
Giving examples, Modi suggested that IITs could contribute in fulfilling the vision of “Housing for All” through technology which would enable rapid construction of economical, eco-friendly and structurally sound houses. The IITs could also contribute towards user-friendly innovations in the Indian Railways, he added.
The President also asked the IITs to focus on government-academia inter-linkage. He described the IITs as “knowledge leaders of the nation” and asked them to explore how quality of education could be improved.
“There is need for soul searching on what is holding back good governance in institutes of higher learning. If our institutes of higher learning are to compete with the best in the world, governance of these institutes must be comparable to the best in the world,” he said.