India at inflection point; new ideas, innovation need of the hour: Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi: Noting that the country has reached an “inflection point”, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said innovation and new ideas were key to meeting the objectives of nation building in the coming decade. [caption id=“attachment_1726311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Venkaiah Naidu said new ideas and innovation are needed in India. PTI[/caption] “The next ten years from now on will be very crucial for making India rise to the potential. For a long time, people have been talking of the potential of India. We should now stop doing so and the motto should be rise of India,” the Urban Development Minister said. He was speaking at the All India Management Association’s convention on the theme “Changing Times: Reinventing the India Story”. Naidu said the task of reinventing ‘India story’ is a challenge as well as an opportunity. Naidu said the need of the hour for success is to create new ideas and innovation among others. “Our country at the moment is at an inflection point. ‘Business as usual’ model will not work. The need of the hour is ideas, innovation, investments and implementation. This requires a new orientation on the part of all the concerned who have stake in nation building,” he said. Recalling India’s glorious past, Naidu quoted Said al-Andalusi, a leading philosopher of the 11th century Spain, and said “the first nation to have cultivated science is India which is known for the wisdom of its people. Over many centuries, all the kings of the past have recognised the ability of Indians in all the branches of knowledge.” Naidu, however, lamented that India has been left far behind in the race in the modern times. “But it is a fact that India was not looked upon as a source of knowledge, technology and innovation by the rest of the world during and immediately after the colonial period. Clearly, from an innovator and leader, India had fallen far behind and become a receiver in the advancement of science and technology,” Naidu said. Dwelling on the importance of the abundance of “human resources” available in the country, he said, “The biggest challenge is to get the best out of these resources as we seek to reinvent ourselves.” Raising the brain drain issue, Naidu said India’s researchers are the most sought after by global corporations. “Considerable amount of Indian talent migrated in the 60s and 70s to North America and Europe, filling the ranks of NASA, Bell Labs, Silicon Valley, global institutes of health and healthcare systems, pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and of course global academia,” Attacking UPA rule, he said, “We inherited a deficit scenario. There are fiscal deficit, trade deficit” and added “now things have changed. World is looking towards India and we will reinvent India again.” PTI