Kolkata, Dec 24 (Representative) The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) organised an interactive session to discuss reforms required by the Indian economy through Innovation, Technology and Decentralisation. The session witnessed valuable insights from Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Dhanpat Ram Agarwal, Founder Trustee Swadeshi Research Institute, Padma Shree awardee Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Faculty IIT Madras, Padma Shree awardee Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho Corporation and R. Sundaram, National Convenor, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. While welcoming the dignitaries, Director General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Rajeev Singh, said, “This will be a unique session with insights from the two Padma Shree winners. I believe that every person should understand the valuable insights of the economy and try to comprehend its implications in their lives.” Commenting on the current scenario of the Indian economy, Dr. Dhanpat Ram Agarwal, Founder Trustee Swadeshi Research Institute, said, “I believe we firstly have to understand the problem of our Indian economy, which would then lead to the development of the primary area which is rural India.
Since the past 70 years, our country has been struggling with economic policy, per capita income, global infrastructure and innovation index.” “I believe a solution to this is to develop our research and development team and increase the human resource of our country. This could be possible by providing education to our potential talent pool. China is way ahead of us in terms of GDP growth and to manage this crisis we should strengthen our quality production and practice decentralisation to make reforms,” Agarwal said Commenting on the development of Indian economic structure, Chief Speaker, Padma Shree and IIT Madras Faculty, Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, said, “India has changed since 1991 and it is phenomenal. As education is growing stronger, 95% of the students are now able to study in schools, but there is still less employment in our country and people are earning less. To build a stronger country we first have to create a strong talent base by investing in the youngsters. This employability rate will make our large market structure into an affordable market category.” “Since independence, we have been struggling with this as we did not have a technical base and to build that the IITians have been developing various programmes since the 1970s to provide education to students.
We are still lacking because of the strong import policy by our country. However, in the late 2000s we witnessed technological improvements, through startups and online practices through investments in research and development leading to the growth of our country. So if we are given the privilege, then we should develop better opportunities for our youngsters and build an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat,” Jhunjhunwala said Commenting on the future plan of action, Padma Shree awardee and Zoho Corporation CEO, Sridhar Vembu, said, “I believe research and development will be a valued addition for economic growth. For this we have to invest in our R&D structure. It is a low-risk investment strategy. Taking cognisance of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, I believe that these applications can provide the necessary improvements in remote areas by building business with a very small investment and a small team.”
“Koymathu region has developed this way by improving the per capita income of the region, as rural communities have started investing in developing areas and therefore received a huge response. Zoho was a very small organization with a team of 4-5 members but we have invested in our research and development leading to a surge of our organisation. So it is time to focus and wake up and think for ourselves rather than depending on various MNCs,” he said Commenting on the Swadeshi initiative, National Convenor, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, R. Sundaram said,” Tamil Nadu and Kolkata share a very deep connection. We all know that the Swadeshi System started in the year 1905 in this very place with a motive of building up our country’s economic system.” “The notion of ‘making native can be substance’ has been carried on for the past 70 years and it has been contributing largely to build our country’s economy. So I would say that creating awareness and making ourselves self reliant should be our country’s primary motive,” Sundaram added.