Source: Government of India
Posted On: 17 FEB 2025 2:44PM by PIB Delhi
Every success demands greater success, when we have phenomenal development, exponential economic upsurge, people get aspirational. Expectations soar high and every success therefore, brings in the wake a greater challenge to outperform oneself.
If we look into our historical past, India was known to be a land of knowledge and wisdom, particularly in science, astronomy and whatnot. Every aspect of human life finds reflection in our Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas. We are a nation that takes pride in having ancient institutions like Nalanda, Takshashila and the kind. Something happened around 11th or 12th century, and there was a digression. Marauders came, invaders came, and they were reckless in destroying our institutions, Nalanda being one of them. Our cultural centres, going to the extent of being so retributive, perversion of a very different kind, that over our religious centres they built their own. The nation faced it. Then came the British rule. Systematically, we got laws that were meant to serve them. We got education that destroyed ours and created not an ecosystem of full exploitation of our talent but then, the best part is, we are springing back.
The century belongs to Bharat. This is being doubted by no one except some in our country. My appeal to them, as an Indian, as a Bhartiya, our commitment to our nation, belief in the principle of the nation being first, and subscribing to the ideology that no interest—personal, political, or otherwise is higher than national interest. Being citizens of this country is our identity and we need to take pride, for a good reason. No country in the world can claim to have that kind of civilizational depth, that richness of culture. And what does it indicate? Inclusivity. People are misleading. India, in the world, is the nerve center, the epicenter of culture.
What is inclusivity is best defined in our life. Never ever in history of the civilization. Expansion has been a methodology of our ruling clans. We suffered invasion, never undertook any invasion. In that perspective that no nation in the world has grown so fast in last decade in terms of economic rise or impact of people centric policies as Bharat. Therefore, we are faced with a great challenge, a challenge before our scientists, a challenge before all institutions. The challenge is, we have the largest global population which is aspirational.
I looked at NABI, I immediately thought of नाभि, नाभि in the human body. And I take the two to be similar. In our religions, Nabi, a birth of rebirth, a center of universe, a symbol of life, connection and vitality, reminding the one taking birth, the source of it, a mark and remnant of the umbilical cord that connects us in the womb of the mother. Your role distinguished audience is no different. You have to nurture every policy that can blossom our motherland, Bharatma, or Bharat Maa ki Atma.
Most people must learn that while our economy is rising, fifth at the moment, shortly to be third globally. A developed nation would require, there must be an eightfold jump in our per capita income, eightfold that can be brought about only when larger population of this country participates.
In this perspective, I take it as a great privilege and honor to inaugurate the Advanced Entrepreneurship Skill Development Program. Focus on entrepreneurship and focus on skill development, according to me, is synonymous with focus on development, focus on economic growth.
This place must be North Star for the farm sector, for rural youth how to be in agro startups and you must be a lighthouse also, if they encounter some difficulties, which are natural. Our ethos of civilisation tell us there is nothing like failure. If an attempt fails, it is not failure. It is a step toward success.
There was time in ancient India when a village was self-sufficient. वहां खाद्य भी था, व्यवहार भी था, चमड़े का काम भी था सब था। Now, the cooperatives are embedded in the Constitution as an institution.
There must be evolution of a mechanism in a village or in a cluster of villages where you have micro industries at the farm that add value to the agro produce, that add value to the livestock produced, milk produced. This will help evolve a sustainable society and the nutritional food value will certainly go up. Right now, if you look around, milk is in the villages the only value addition I see is that दूध की छाछ बना देंगे, दही बना देंगे।
What stops us? From having entrepreneur skills getting into ice creams, paneer, sweets and the kind in a cluster. This is very important because it will generate employment. It will satisfy rural youth.
Startups are there in tier two and tier three cities. They have to trickle to villages now because agriculture produce is lifeline of economy, raw material for industry and when this takes place, close to the farmland in the rural firmament, evolving as a cluster, economy will take a jump, and people will believe in the farmland.
How best to earn money out of farm should not be limited only to the agriculture produced. It must extend to marketing, value addition and small industries.
All institutions in the country will have to pass the litmus test and the litmus test is what you are doing, is there some impact somewhere? In a positive sense, it should be like an earthquake, impact should be felt. A research for the sake of research, a research that is for the self, a research that is to be kept on the shelf, the research that comes out as a personal embellishment is not the research which the nation needs. Research is not giving a paper by scratching the surface. Research is not to impress the one who is ignorant of the subject. Research is to impress those who know the subject as much as you know or more than you know at a global benchmark and that research can’t be just abstract academics. The research has to have impact on what we are doing. I’m sure this is an area where you have enough scope.
I am son of a farmer, interest of the farmer is in my heart. I know the potential of farmers. I know the potential of the children in farm families. I know the kind of challenges they face right from the beginning. During my time the challenges were more, not any longer. We never imagined Indian household will have a toilet, a gas connection, an electricity connection, an internet connection, something like pipe water on the way, a road connectivity, health center close by. We never thought of that. Good education, it is happening now. Therefore, an ecosystem by transforming our education that brings about equality, labels all, and cuts into inequities is in place.
Technology transfer to the farm is essential. A farmer is by and large clinging to his tractor. He wants to use the tractor for as long as it can last. Ignorant that the technology of the tractor is undergoing big changes. It is becoming environment friendly, fuel efficient, multifunctional and highly subsidized. There has to be awareness campaign. There has to be awareness campaign to the farmer that you don’t need anybody’s help. You only have to know your inner strength to change your economy to a very high level. Form small groups, market your product at a price of your choice; you can.
But by and large, I see farm produce is sold when it is not farmers’ market, it is buyers’ market. The government provides facilities to hold on to the stock by massive warehousing and cooperative movement. I can tell you the farm policies of the government are so helping the farmer. The farmer has to know about it. You can play a great role because we cannot allow that our farmers get anything but the very best. No short-change for the farm sector, no short-change for the farmer that has to be our motto. Institutes like yours must have live connect with Krishi Vigyan Kendras, with Institutes of Indian Council of Agriculture Research.
We need to introspect also. We can feel proud that we are doing good but, like learning, which never stops, your goalpost must be shifting, shifting on one parameter. To what degree is our research, our involvement, making a difference in the life of the ordinary person? Such self-audit, self-assessment, self-introspection will lead to deep reflection. It will fire us with the zeal to serve the nation, and it will be a satisfying experience. The aspirations of our people have been propelled, as I said, by people-centric policies, reaching the ground. We cannot allow our youth to be restive now. They must know what opportunities they have. The son of the farmer, the daughter of the farmer, must get attracted to starting their ventures.
There were some districts where the district magistrates never wanted to go. Prime Minister Modi created them as aspirational districts with a definite mission, uplift them. The number of their aspirational districts is going down. But bureaucrats who seek to go to those districts, the queue is getting longer because anybody wants to contribute and transform. Prime Minister has now come to the second stage, aspirational blocks, that the district is by and large not aspirational because developed, but some blocks are there. Time for us to nurture aspirational agro zones across rural India
I am son of a farmer like there was a movie, Son of a Sardar. A son of the farmer will always commit himself to truth.
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