JOIN USPM Modi highlights India's 5 pillars, invites global investors
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for maintaining the "innovative zeal" and being better prepared when the next challenge strikes as he underlined the importance of the twin foundations of "repair and prepare". The nation is emerging from the second wave of Covid-19 after having witnessed a lot of disruption in different sectors.
"India's strides in the world of tech and start-ups are well-known. Our nation is home to one of the world's largest start-up ecosystems. Several unicorns have come up in recent years. India offers what innovators and investors need. I invite the world to invest in India based on the five pillars of talent, market, capital, eco-system and culture of openness," Modi said in his keynote address at the 5th edition of the global tech event VivaTech.
Modi spoke at length about innovation in India during the pandemic. "India's universal and unique bio-metric digital identity system - Aadhaar - helped us provide timely financial support to the poor. We could supply free food to 800 million people and deliver cooking-fuel subsidies to many households. Two vaccines are being made in India and more are in the development or trial stages. On the government side, our indigenous IT platform, Aarogya Setu, enabled effective contact-tracing. Our Co-WIN digital platform has already helped ensure vaccines to millions. Had we not been innovating, our fight against Covid-19 would have been much weaker," he said.
The Prime Minister, who will be launching a customised crash course programme for frontline workers on Friday through video conferencing, also hailed the mother of a six-year-old boy for her courage and positive thinking as she isolated herself from her son after contracting Covid-19 in Ghaziabad in UP.
The launch will commence the programme in 111 training centres spread over 26 states, the PMO said.
Meanwhile, the Congress questioned the rationale of the Centre's decision to double the gap between the doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
While Rahul Gandhi said India needs quick and complete vaccination and not the "BJP's brand of lies and rhyming slogans", party' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the government of “Himalayan Mismanagement” of vaccination over the last six months.
"Only 3.51% of the population vaccinated with both doses. Average per day Vaccination is mere 17.23 lakh per day over the last six months," he tweeted.
The Opposition party also announced its own nationwide outreach campaign to help those affected by the pandemic and gather data on coronavirus-infected patients and the deceased. The party hopes to reach out to 12 crore people in 30 days. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and state unit presidents will also be writing condolence letters to the next of kin of those who passed away due to Covid.