by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Central government is following a policy of empowerment and not appeasement towards the minority communities, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday.
In his address to a joint sitting of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session, Kovind said the Narendra Modi government had a policy of “tushtikaran nahi, sashaktikaran” (empowerment not appeasement) towards the minority communities.
He said government programmes like “Seekho aur Kamao”, “Ustad”, “Garib Nawaz Kaushal Vikas” and others are providing employment opportunities to the youth of minority communities like Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains.
He also mentioned that for the first time, women above 45 years of age were allowed to go for the Haj pilgrimage without a male escort and added that 1,300 women went for Haj this year without escorts.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Economy, Employment, Entrepreneurship, Government Jobs, News, Politics, Private Jobs, Startup Basics
Gandhinagar : Universities should give top priority to preparing students for employability, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Sunday, lauding Gujarat University for helping many new entrepreneurs through its programmes.
Addressing the varsity’s 66th convocation, he said: “Gujarat University is supporting many new entrepreneurs through its Start-up and Entrepreneurship Council.
“The creation of the Council of Skill Development is also a welcome step towards empowering students. Today’s universities should give top priority to preparing their students for employability, and for self-employment and entrepreneurship.”
The President said that there are many good institutions in Ahmedabad that promote a start-up culture.
Also noting that recently, the Prime Ministers of India and Israel inaugurated the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology – or iCreate – in Ahmedabad, he said that this will provide world-class facilities to young Indian entrepreneurs and urged students of Gujarat University to take advantage of them.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Markets, News, Politics, Technology
Ram Nath Kovind
Kolkata : Observing that West Bengal was a “slow starter” in IT, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday urged it to grab the opportunities presented by digital explosion and replicate the past successes of its famous scientific entrepreneurs.
“Bengal was a slow starter in Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services. Now it has another chance,” Kovind told the closing ceremony celebrations of the Bose Institute here.
“We are in the midst of an explosion of digital technologies. Precision manufacture and bioinformatics are changing how we work and robotics as to how we live. All this throws up opportunities for Bengal.”
Referring to Bengal’s pioneering scientists and technocrats who were among the country’s earliest scientific entrepreneurs, the President said the magic of the synthesis achieved by them needed to be recreated.
In this context, Kovind mentioned Acharya P.C. Ray, who established the first Indian-owned pharmaceutical company, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
He also referred to the engineer father-son pair Rajendra Nath Mookerjee and Biren Mookerjee who established the Indian Iron and Steel Co in Burnpur as well as technologist and academic of Bengali descent Amar Bose, founder of Bose Corp in the US.
“Clearly, when Bengali scientists and technologists turn entrepreneurs, they can be very, very successful. We need to bring back the magic of that synthesis.”
Lauding the Bose Institute, Kovind said it had been inspired by a sense of nation-building through its hundred years.
“It has served the cause of science and the cause of India… Bose Institute occupies a unique and exalted position in the landscape of Indian science. This was one of the earliest scientific institutes to be established in the country,” Kovind said.
He paid glowing tributes to the institute’s founder Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose.
Calling Bose a “true pioneer of Indian science” and an innovator and world-class scientist, Kovind said he had laid the foundation for revolutionary technologies like the modern wireless communication and demonstrated wireless transmission of microwaves as far back as 1895.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said the government has made a “sacred commitment” of covering 90 per cent of Indian rural households with piped water supply by 2022, when the country completes 75 years of Independence.
Inaugurating India Water Week-2017 here, the President said access to water was a byword for human dignity and that providing safe drinking water to people living in 600,000 villages and urban areas was not just a project proposal for the government.
“It is a sacred commitment. The government has prepared a strategic plan for ensuring drinking water supply in all rural areas by 2022. By that year, the goal is to cover 90 per cent of rural households with piped water supply. We cannot fail,” he said.
He said while water was fundamental to the economy and to ecology — and to human equity, the issue of scarcity of water was becoming still more critical in view of climate change and related environmental concerns.
“Better and more efficient use of water is a challenge for Indian agriculture and industry alike. It requires us to set new benchmarks in both our villages and in the cities we build.”
He said currently, 80 per cent of water in India was used by agriculture and only 15 per cent by industry.
But the ratio, he asserted, is expected to change in the coming years as the demand for water would also rise.
“Efficiency of water use and reuse, therefore, has to be built into the blueprint of industrial projects. Business and industry need to be a part of the solution.”
He observed that 40 billion litres of waste water was produced every day in urban India which made it vital to adopt a technology to reduce the toxic content of the waste water and to deploy it for irrigation purposes.
He called for water management approach to be localised so that it empowered villages and neighbourhood communities and built their capacity to manage, allocate and value their water resources.
“Any 21st century water policy must factor in the concept of the value of water. It must encourage all stakeholders, including communities, to expand their minds — and to graduate from allocating a quantum of water to allocating a quantum of benefits.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Economy, Emerging Businesses, Investing, News, Politics
Ram Nath Kovind
Addis Ababa : Highlighting India’s increasing engagements with Africa, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that India is among the three largest investors in Ethiopia, the East African nation with which New Delhi has had diplomatic ties for nearly 70 years now.
“India is now among the top three foreign investors in Ethiopia,” Kovind said while addressing the India-Ethiopia Business Dialogue to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the India Business Forum here.
“Indian investment has made a mark in textile and garments, engineering, plastics, water management, consultancy and ICT, education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
“Indian investments in Ethiopia have had a significant presence in manufacturing and value addition to local resources. They have created jobs in this country, and they have contributed to the prosperity of Ethiopian families,” he said.
Kovind said that India’s relationship with Ethiopia is symbolic of its engagement with the African continent, “of which Addis Ababa is such a vital hub”.
After the Ethiopian economy opened up in the last decade, business ties with India have increased significantly, especially in the area of infrastructure projects like roads, power, telecommunications and water resources.
There are over 540 Indian companies in Ethiopia that have invested over $4 billion of which about $2 billion is estimated to be on the ground, investing a wide range of sectors.
President Kovind congratulated the Indian Business Forum for playing a lead role in encouraging Indian investment and promoting trade and commerce between India and Ethiopia.
At the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) hosted by New Delhi in 2015, India had announced the offer of concessional credit of $10 billion over the next five years to Africa. This was in addition to the ongoing credit programme.
“We have also committed to a grant assistance of $600 million that will include an India-Africa Development Fund of $100 million and an India-Africa Health Fund of $10 million. The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor is another initiative brimming with potential,” Kovind said.
Earlier on Thursday, President Kovind held delegation-level talks with his Ethiopian counterpart Mulatu Teshome following which two bilateral agreements were signed on bilateral trade facilitation and on information communication and the media sector.
Kovind arrived here from Djibouti on Wednesday on the second and last leg of his African tour. This is his first visit abroad after assuming office in July.
His visit is a manifestation of India’s growing interactions with Africa. Over the last two years, several visits have been made to African nations by then President Pranab Mukherjee, then Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
—IANS
