CHENNAI, Dec 20: Noting that the development status of a nation was fashioned by its technological prowess, President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon engineers and scientists to leverage the country’s knowledge infrastructure to develop growth-inducing technology and also provide requisite foresight on it.
Inaugurating the three-day-long 28th Indian Engineering Congress, organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) here today, the President said a nation’s progress was not guaranteed by its stock of natural resources alone but by its technological prowess.
“The development status of a nation is fashioned by its technological prowess. We have to make a choice of technologies for development based on the socio-economic, environmental and security factors and on availability of resources and infrastructure,” he said.
Japan and Singapore were examples of nations that developed on the sheer strength of cutting-edge technology, he pointed out.
It was time that greater emphasis was laid on developing suitable grassroot technologies for empowerment of rural population, he said, adding, that rural rejuvenation would be possible only through promotion of technology that catered to their needs.
Pointing out that the world was beginning to emerge from the second round impact of the global economic crisis, Mukherjee said our immediate challenge was to reverse the deceleration and nurse our growth path back to the eight per cent plus levels.
“India too felt the repercussions of global slowdown. Our economic growth declined in the last two years and at five per cent in 2012-13, it was the lowest in the last ten years.
“Positive factors like continuing rise in per capita income, expanding middle-class consumers and a young and energetic workforce give me confidence that as the global economy revives, we will be able to secure a faster growth,” the President remarked.
Lamenting that many of the engineering and technical institutions in the country were low in terms of the standard of education imparted, the President stressed on the need for giving equal priority to academic excellence while expanding the engineering education.
“Every engineering and technical institution in the country must make an all-out effort to help India develop a large pool of proficient scientific and technical manpower.
“The Institution of Engineers (India) must think of establishing an Institute of Excellence in engineering and technology to create synergy between industry and academia through high-quality engineering education and innovative research,” Mukherjee said.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah, Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan, Tamil Nadu Industries Minister Thangamani, IEI president SS Rathore and others were present on the occasion. (PTI)
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