India is at par with the world and these are better times to contribute to the growth of the country, said Minister of State for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh.
The minister was speaking at THE WEEK Connect day-long event ‘Pioneers of India’ organised in New Delhi. As many as 25 pioneers in the fields of health and education were felicitated by the minister. A coffee table book titled ‘Pioneers of India’ was also launched on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, Singh said that these are opportune and better times for the medical and scientific fraternity to learn and contribute to the growth of the country.
“In the past 10 years we have been able to find connectivity and create an environment for different stakeholders to work together which was possibly absent before,” the minister said, adding, “I must say that these are better times because we are at par with the rest of the world. The acceptance between the public and private sector in healthcare has improved and both do not look at each other with scepticism now. Such environment has been created in the past 10 years.”
Referring to the internship programme and the removal of angel tax in the recent union budget, Singh said that such unorthodox decisions are being taken because of the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The removal of angel tax is a huge reform and is expected to make it easier for startups to secure and scale investments. We have also made changes in the CSR Act to help the startups grow,” Singh added.
Singh said that India has become cost-effective and world class and is emerging as a new global destination in the health sector. But, at the same time, he said that challenges have become complex.
“The disease spectrum has changed. On the one hand, we are dealing with communicable diseases, on the other we have to deal with metabolic disorders. Lifespan has also become very confusing. On the one hand, we are living long enough to get metabolic diseases but at the same time we are getting later age diseases at a much younger age,” he said, urging the medical fraternity to take this as an opportunity to learn.
“It is a huge experience to learn. The knowledge expansion is too much. There is a much bigger poll to practice. The technology that has come to our disposal is also moving progressively. I do not know what the future holds especially with AI. Transformation of unimaginable proportions is happening and we have to cope with that,” he said.
He mentioned the space sector as one of the striking success stories.
“We moved away from working behind a veil of secrecy and resultantly the quantum of jump was such that in a period of three years, the number of start-ups went up from just 1 to 229. The scepticism and hesitation to engage with each other is no longer there. Our space economy is today worth US $ 8 billion projected go up to US $ 44 billion in 10 years. We never had the dearth of talent and scientific and research acumen. But we lacked support from policymakers and the political class. In the past 10 years that has gone away,” Singh added.
As a message to the awardees, Singh said they will go back home with a heavy responsibility and liability to give back to the community.
“You can contribute in whatever way you can. You have to change the mindset of the professionals working under you. I am sure more and more people will excel and soon we will be giving awards for philanthropy on the same platform,” he said.
“If we want to contribute to the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the responsibility of health professionals becomes all the more important as preventive healthcare is the key. We have to preserve the energies of our younger generations so that they are able to discharge their responsibilities in years to come,” he added.
The day-long event saw panel discussions on important issues ranging from New Age Education, Healthcare, Medical Education and the health landscape in rural areas. Chief Associate Editor and Director, THE WEEK Riyad Mathew was also present on the occasion.
