Chairman of Reliance Industries and president of Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) Mukesh Ambani, on Saturday, said from a $3.5 trillion economy today, India will become a $40 trillion economy by 2047 and to fuel this growth, the country will need enormous amounts of clean energy.
In his recorded message to the graduating students of the PDEU at Gandhinagar, he said India’s energy requirement is set to double by the end of this decade.
ISRO chairman Dr. S. Somnath was the chief guest on the occasion.
As India races to build a robust energy infrastructure to meet its energy goals, it faces three crucial questions. Describing it as “Energy Trilemma”, Ambani said this is about ensuring that every citizen and every economic activity in India has access to adequate, most affordable energy, rapidly transitioning from fossil fuel-based energy to clean and green energy and de-risking the expanding needs of its fast-growing economy from a volatile external environment.
Ambani said he is confident that India is capable of developing smart and sustainable solutions to address this trilemma because it has extremely talented young minds who have vowed to fight the climate crisis.
Asking the students to be fearless, he said courage is the ship that can safely sail you across the stormiest of seas. “You will commit mistakes. But let that not worry or deter you. The one who succeeds in life is the one who corrects his mistakes and continues on his mission boldly.”
He asked the students to dream big and be ambitious, be curious and hungry for new knowledge.
As many as 714 students got degree certificates at the convocation ceremony.
Ambani said Reliance Foundation has already paid over Rs 130 crore out of a total commitment of Rs 150 crore to build world-class infrastructure and transform PDEU.
In his address, Somnath focused on how India has become the undisputed world leader in space. He took pride in saying despite a very small budget for the space sector, India has made its own rocket launchers, and by 2025 the plan is to send men to space and get them back safely.
Progress, he said, is not by acquiring neighbours’ piece of land, but by taking strides in the field of science and technology. Acknowledging the government’s support, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a keen interest in scientific progress.
Somnath said now even a young boy or a girl of a small town or village says that he/she wants to become an astrophysicist. “They may not know what they are saying, but this shows the kind of interest it has generated.”
The ISRO chairman said now India has reached such a stage that even private companies are ready to launch their satellites. Talking about a young boy, who worked in ISRO for eight years and then set up his own company in Bengaluru, Somanth said now his company has a turnover of Rs 500 crore.