Modi’s growth mantra: Focus on ‘skill, scale and speed’ to compete with China

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country needs to focus on imparting skills to its young population in order to compete with China, apart from bringing revolutionary changes in agriculture and energy sectors.

"If India has to compete with China, the focus should be on skill, scale and speed," Modi said after launching the book 'Getting India Back on track an action agenda for reform' at a function.

He said that India needs to exploit the demographic dividend as 65 per cent of population was below 35 years of age.

"For this skill development needs to be a priority area," he said.

Referring to skills such as teaching, nursing and paramedics, he said good teachers were one of the biggest needs of society, but rued that there were very few good teachers available.

"Can India become an exporter of good teachers who would capture the imagination of an entire generation globally," the Prime Minister asked.

Modi cited the three colours of the national flag while speaking on the need to develop key sectors for overall growth of the country.

Beginning with green, he said India needs to bring about a second green revolution focusing on increased agro-productivity, value addition, agro technology, and decentralization of warehousing.

Modi said a white revolution must focus on increasing milk productivity and developing a support system for ensuring cattle health.

"Saffron colour represents energy and we need a saffron revolution that focuses on renewable energy sources such as solar energy to meet India's growing energy demand," he added.

He said, in infrastructure, the focus needs to shift from highways to "i-ways", and optical fibre networks.

"Cities in the past were built on river-banks. They are now built along highways. But in future, they will be built based on availability of optical-fibre networks and next-generation infrastructure," he added. Referring to the blue colour of Ashoka Chakra, Modi said blue revolution should focus on developing fisheries, including ornamental fish.

Modi said Universities should be actively involved in research and analysis of the developmental process, to contribute in the best possible way for policy-related decisions.

He said the "input of intellectual think-tanks" should be enhanced for better policy framework. The Prime Minister said urbanisation should not be treated as a problem, but as an opportunity. "If we have to generate employment and change for the better, we plan to build 100 smart cities," he said.

Modi stressed on the need for water conservation and emphasised the importance of micro-irrigation, which would lead to "per drop, more crop".

He said that micro-irrigation had been successful in improving productivity and quality in crops like sugarcane in Gujarat.

Talking about the need to combat the challenge of global warming and climate change, the Prime Minister said that a civilization that treated rivers as mothers, did not need to learn about environment protection from a western mindset.

The book "Getting India Back on track an action agenda for reform"  is edited by Bibek Debroy, Ashley Tellis and Reece Trevor, and published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence, Arun Jaitley said there could not have been a more appropriate time for release of the book.

He said governments should not only have the will to rule, but also the credibility to rule. "The international community was once again looking at India, and it is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss," Jaitley said.

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