SME Times News Bureau | 05 Mar, 2021
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said that the
Indian industry should emphasis on skill training and youth should turn from
job-seekers to job providers.
Interacting with the industrial and trade
fraternity of South Gujarat at an event organised by the ‘South Gujarat Chamber
of Commerce & Industry in Surat, Naidu urged the industry to play a more
proactive role in skill training of the youth and mentoring of budding
entrepreneurs,
Naidu stressed upon the critical role of the private
sector in scripting the success story of any economy.
He commended Gujarati business community for
their handholding and community support to the new entrants into the business
world and implored all businessmen to emulate this by supporting and mentoring
young entrepreneurs.
Stating that our youth should not be mere
job-seekers and they should rather become job providers, Shri Naidu called for
enhanced industry-academia interface to unleash the latent spirit of
entrepreneurship among Indian youth.
Naidu today called upon all nations to ensure
that economic offenders who abscond to other countries are immediately
repatriated back to the countries where they are wanted. He said that system
should be tough with the people who loot public money and seek safe heavens
abroad.
The Vice President appealed to the industry to
isolate such black sheep who bring a bad name to the entire business community
and emphasised the need for ethical corporate governance in the country.
Urging the governments to resist the temptation
of populist policies, the Vice President wanted them to focus on creating right
infrastructure, facilities and ecosystem for the people and the businesses to
grow without impediments.
He stressed that wealth need to be created before
it can be distributed and called for giving due respect for wealth creators.
“Entrepreneurship should be appreciated and not
envied”, he said
On this occasion, the Vice President also said
that the push for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” presents a huge opportunity to Indian
businesses and called upon them to rise to the occasion and replicate the PPE
kit success story in other sectors as well.
During the discussion, he highlighted the fact
that before lockdown, India had negligible production capacity of PPE kits and
face masks like N-95, but within a short span of time, we have emerged as the
second-largest producer of PPE kits.
“We are not only meeting our own demand today,
but also exporting these essential items to several countries”, he said.
Describing the ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ as
one of the important lessons imparted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Vice
President said that the larger part of Indian economy cannot remain forever
dependent on foreign supplies.
Such dependence makes us vulnerable to any
blockage or disruption in the global supply chain, he cautioned.
Referring to the huge fall in the consumer prices
of essential items like PPE kits, Naidu said that the pandemic has also taught
us that we can lower the costs if we develop capacities to produce such goods
within our country.
This will not only benefit our consumers but also
save our precious foreign exchange required to procure these goods from
global markets, he said underlining the need for self-sufficiency in key areas
of healthcare, defence, energy and infrastructure.
Recalling India’s healthy pace of economic growth
during pre-Covid times, the Vice President noted with optimism the projected
growth rate of 11.5 percent in this year's Budget. “This rate can doubtless be
considered as the highest among the larger economies of the world”, he said.
He reminded the audience of India’s rich
tradition of trade and commerce and said that we can certainly regain that past
glory and make India a ‘sonekichidiya’ once again.
Pointing to the rapidly changing technological
scenario and impending fourth industrial revolution, Shri Naidu asked the
Industry to be prepared for it.
He said that India’s demographic dividend gives
us a significant advantage in this and opined that our youth can bring about
the desired transformation if they are properly skilled, motivated and given
the right opportunities.