The Indian government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision is all about building on the country’s existing strengthswhile increasing global engagement, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Railways, on Thursday.

“Aatmanirbhar Bharat will realise India’s dream, and we should offer our traditional strengths to the rest of the world. At the same time, we should be acknowledging and accepting the good things that we can learn from the West. The programme will also increase India’s global engagement. It doesn’t close India’s engagement, but opens wider,” he said while addressing the Industry-Academia Global Virtual Conference on ‘Emerging Economic Scenario - Identify and Create Competencies’.

The conference was organised by SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

Factory of the world

Goyal pointed out that India has the potential to become the factory of the world in many areas. Despite having skilled carpenters and artisans in the country, India was importing furniture. India could become a furniture factory of the world by making products at competitive rates.

In this context, the Minister said the government has identified 20 sectors where India can not only meet domestic needs but also become globally competitive.

Earlier, Goyal stated that technology would decide the economic destiny of India, and the impact was deep. “The only way to remain competitive in this globalised world is to harness new and emerging technologies,” he said.

The rise of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, the Internet of Things is not a bad thing. It is something we should engage and adopt. We can’t run away from it, and technology should be part of our day-to-day work – it should be a passion to each one of us, he said.

More jobs to be added

The Union Minister also attempted to allay fears over job losses due to emerging technologies. Rapid technological innovation and adoption of the same will not lead to job losses. There would be a requirement for reskilling and retooling. On an aggregate basis, it will only add jobs. Technology is a powerful tool to help democratise development, which will lead to social and economic equality.

The Railways was setting up a university and preparing training programmes for re-skilling and up-skilling the staff. This is done for the development of modern railways system to support future passengers and goods movement.

comment COMMENT NOW