74 conferred degrees at EDII's 24th convocation
Ahmedabad: Vijay Kumar Saraswat, member of NITI Aayog and former secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), on Friday said that the vision of Viksit Bharat, a developed India by 2047, is not merely a govt policy but a collective aspiration.
It requires entrepreneurs to be its primary architects.
Dr Saraswat was speaking at the 24th convocation of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) at Bhat near Gandhinagar, where he was the chief guest. He also said that research is no longer an issue with India – we produce great research and researchers. However, the issue lies in producing translational research where the gap between research and implementation must be filled, he added.
The event saw 74 students of courses including PGDM-E, PGDM-IEV, and the fellow programme receiving their degrees.
Those present at the convocation included Rakesh Sharma, EDII president and CEO of IDBI Bank, and members of the EDII governing board.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
From Opinions Editor: Schools, colleges, universities and waterlogging
Last week, the NITI Aayog's CEO announced that India has become the world's fourth-largest economy. Though subsequent analysis showed that the head of the country's premier economic think tank had jumped the gun somewhat, there is very little doubt that India is on the cusp of notching a step up in the global GDP ladder. The challenge, however, was framed by developments in the country's financial capital barely a day after the NITI Aayog CEO's congratulatory announcement. An early onset of monsoon brought life to a standstill in Mumbai. Large parts of Maharashtra's capital, including a newly-built Metro station, went under water reminding policymakers that India's economy remains extremely vulnerable to climate risks. Reports show that the country has significantly decoupled economic growth from its carbon footprint – emissions have risen by about 4 percent compared to a compounded growth rate of about 7 percent from 2005 onwards. However, given the enormity of climate change, incremental changes aren't enough. Studies warn that the flooding problem is likely to get worse. What do Indian cities do to become hydrologically smart? What must be done to ensure that monsoon vagaries do not cause economic damage and loss of lives? Can construction in the mountains be sensitive to local ecologies? Is there a way to ensure development while also obviating landslides? The answers are not always easy. Very often they are framed in the ecology versus development binary. But does that fit in the aspirations of a young nation that's seeking to reap its demographic advantage? The go-slow-on-development alternative, for instance, might not fit in with the aspirations of a large section of India, who see prospects of upward mobility in the country's economic advancement. It would be terribly unfair to push such people to make difficult choices. And, yet the growing severity of the climate crisis underlines that we have no time to lose. About two weeks ago, the Supreme Court seemed to hold that there is no inherent conflict between sustainability and development. The trouble, however, is that the resolution to the environment-development predicament does not come in templates. They call for respecting the topographies of individual cities, factoring in the gradients of mountains, recognising the floodplains and courses of rivers, and acknowledging the catchment areas of lakes, streams and other aquifers. Can economic prosperity go hand-in-hand with respect for such environmental peculiarities? The answer must necessarily come from the country's educational institutes, from schools to universities to engineering institutes. This is not to say that the green imperative has been completely sidelined in the country's education system. In fact, in the past 20 years, considerable effort seems to have gone into introducing the problems of the environment in school and university curricula. However, while sectors such as technology, medicine, finance, engineering, law and even the arts are often seen as the primary career paths, sustainability is still seen as a niche field that's still evolving. Education about the environment has become another box to be ticked in a child's academic career, rather than being one of the ways by which she engages with the world. At the higher education level, environmental education is too often associated with green technologies – renewable energy, waste management, green vehicles. Though an important part of climate-ready curricula, the technology-centred approach isn't enough if a student in Delhi, for instance, remains oblivious to the links between pollution and the destruction of the Aravali range. Schooling in green building techniques would remain incomplete if the same Delhi student doesn't learn why the ITO area is amongst the first to be waterlogged after an intense downpour. And, any education in waste management has to make connections between daily use items in households – plastic bottles for example – and the burgeoning landfills outside several Indian cities, including the country's capital. For education to make a difference in increasing the resilience of our cities, towns and rural areas to climate vagaries, the first thing to do would be to increase the engagement of the learner with problems associated with the current crises. Why shouldn't the constant water logging problems of Indian cities be a part of the educational experience in schools, colleges and universities? Why should pollution be a matter of rote learning and not something that students have to encounter almost every few months? In other words, the country needs a generation – and not just a few people in niche professions — with sensitivity to air, water, land and forests to steward an alternative version of economic prosperity — one that does not come at the cost of ecology. It's time for the country's education system to step up. Till next time Kaushik
Hans India
2 hours ago
- Hans India
PM Modi meets ADB president Masato Kanda, latter pledges $10 bn for Indian urban infrastructure
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took to X to share a picture of meeting with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Masato Kanda at his official residence, where the latter promised to pledge $10 billion for Indian urban infrastructure development over a period of five years. The $10 billion investment will seek to transform urban infrastructure across the country, including municipal infrastructure development, Metro extensions, new regional rapid transit system (RRTS) corridors and modernisation of urban services, the ADB said in a statement. The ADB president also extended support to the Modi government's Viksit Bharat pledge and wrote on X, 'The Viksit Bharat 2047 vision is bold and the ADB is supporting that ambition.' PM Modi, while sharing the pictures of the meeting, said that he and the ADB president shared a perspective on a wide range of issues, including India's rapid transformation over the past decade, which saw the empowerment and upliftment of countless people. Masato Kando, who arrived in India last week, marking his official state visit after becoming the ADB President, said, "By scaling up public and private sector finance, deepening knowledge collaboration, and mobilising capital, we stand ready to support India's drive to become a developed nation by 2047 and to deliver inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth for its 1.4 billion people.' ADB has reportedly collaborated with over 110 cities across 22 states on projects related to water supply, sanitation, housing, and solid waste management, with an active urban portfolio comprising 27 loans amounting to $5.15 billion. Earlier, the ADB president also met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, where the two discussed plans to bring rural prosperity, scaling rooftop solar capacities, and operationalising the UCF. He also met Urban Development Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to outline the next steps for channelling private capital into urban projects.
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
PM Modi meets ADB president Masato Kanda
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masato Kanda and said his government was working to add further momentum to India's rapid transformation over the last decade. In his post on X, Mr. Kanda said his organisation is supporting India's ambition of a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047, describing it as a bold vision. "We will direct USD 10 billion, including third-party capital, over the next five years into municipal infrastructure development, extending metro networks, building new Regional Rapid Transit System corridors, and modernising city services," he said. India, a founding ADB member since 1966 and its largest borrower, is a steadfast partner, Kanda noted. He added, "By scaling up public and private sector finance, deepening knowledge collaboration, and mobilizing capital, we stand ready to support India's drive to become a developed nation by 2047 and to deliver inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth for its 1.4 billion people." Mr. Modi replied, "Had a wonderful meeting with Mr Masato Kanda, in which we shared perspectives on a wide range of issues. India's rapid transformation over the last decade has empowered countless people and we are working to add further momentum to this journey!"
