Following is the text of the address of Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of HRD and C&IT at The Foundation Stone Function of NIT, Meghalaya on 12th October, 2012;
“Honourable Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr Mukul Sangma ji, Honourable Minister of Education, Prof R.C. Laloo ji, Distinguished Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Dr D.K.Basu ji, Additional Secretary from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Smt Amita Sharma ji, Distinguished Principal Secretary Education of Meghalaya, Shri ji, Distinguished Director of NIT, Meghalaya, Prof D.K Saikia ji, Distinguished faculty members, staff and students of NIT, members of the press and electronic media, my dear fellow countrymen, Ladies and Gentlemen and dear children.
It is indeed a privilege and honour to be a witness as well as a participant to this momentous and landmark event of laying the foundation of the permanent campus of National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya. Moreover, we are in this famous place, Sohra, in Cherapunjee known worldwide for being the second highest rainfall location in the world.
Friends, India has the world’s largest and youngest populations; around one-third of our population which in numbers translates to 400 million is in the age group of 0-14 years. This means that the number of people in India needing primary and secondary education alone exceeds the entire population of all countries in the world with the exception of China. These students will seek higher education in India over the next decade, which illustrates the immense challenge that we face on the education front.
Meghalaya rests amongst the clouds. Nature has endowed it with a beautiful environment rich in biodiversity and natural resources. Its pristine beauty is reflected in the life and culture of its people. It has for long been the centre of learning in the North East drawing upon the quest for education that is prevalent amongst its youth. It has been our endeavour to provide a path for the youth to empower themselves through quality education and add to the talent pool In India that is slowly capturing the attention of the world. The youth of Meghalaya have to be an essential component of the growth story of India in the coming decades.
By 2020, our country is expected to represent 17 percent of the world’s working-age population (of adults aged between 15-59 years) . It is estimated that in 2020 the average age in India will be 29 years compared to 37 years in China and USA, 45 years in Western Europe and 48 years in Japan. Thus, 30 per cent of the world’s new work force will be from India. Our economy has also to become globally competitive. This necessitates that we must continue to enhance our competitiveness. For that, we require support of a highly skilled workforce, innovation, technological upgrading and ultimately new technology development to continue the climb up the global technology ladder.
Our talent pool has clearly demonstrated its prowess by creating a successful IT and services industry which is the envy of the world. While India’s outsourcing industry and technology workers have drawn the most attention, other skill pools at different stages of the skill continuum are also much in demand. Friends, as a result of the large reservoir of talented youth that is available in the country, around 1000 of the top global companies have established their R&D, technical and development centres in India, employing, I believe, over 200,000 scientists and engineers in almost all the knowledge sectors such as software, computers, microelectronics, automobiles, aerospace, telecommunications, biotechnology, medicare, pharmaceuticals, entertainment and others. High-tech companies employ young Indian innovators whose ideas are taking the world by storm. The recruits of these world-class centres are often fresh from NITs and other technical institutes of repute. This new found confidence of global majors in our youth has in turn given fillip to some of India’s best and talented young technocrats to become first generation technopreneurs, but their numbers are certainly less, far too small, for a nation of our size and capacity.
In our quest towards attaining heights and global recognition on all fronts, we have to ensure that our talent pool in the knowledge arena lives up to the ‘Brand India’ equity that is now looked up globally with awe and respect. I am thus sanguine to recognize that the State needs additional number of schools, colleges and even professional educational institutions and we are doing our utmost to meet the aspirations of the state. The establishment of the NIT here is one small step towards the realization of these objectives; we shall follow up with several more.
I must confess that I have seen the upsurge of excitement and expectations that have followed the inception of the NIT here. It is a mammoth task to meet such level of expectations and high hopes. I must congratulate Professor Saikia and his team for having initiated firm steps towards meeting of these expectations. We seek the eight new NITs being established in the North Eastern region to be manned by world class faculty to train our talented youth to become world class engineers, scientists, technologists, and equally importantly, entrepreneurs who can create wealth for the nation. We want these NITs to be engaged in research in the areas of engineering and applied sciences so as to be able to develop technologies that can compete with the rest of the world. We want these institutes to be engaged in dialogue with the local community and society at-large to understand their problems and devise innovative solutions as per the local, regional as well as national needs. We are accordingly empowering the eight NITs in establishing incubation centres to catalyse entrepreneurship among their students.
The realization of these objectives will need right talents to man these institutes. Such manpower can be attracted only if we create appropriate academic and research environment in these institutes. The Govt. of India is ready to invest significantly in these institutes. But the help and cooperation from the State Government and the Local Society can play a very important role in shaping these institutions. I am very happy that the Meghalaya Govt., and the local populace of Sohra have been very positive and cooperative about setting-up this new NIT.
We are thankful to the Govt. of Meghalaya, especially the Chief Minister, for the 200 acres of land given to the Institute. We have big plans for NIT Meghalaya. We must make this Institute amongst the best in the country showing a path for bright youth from the land of the hills to leave their mark in our country and for our country. I assure every possible support to the NIT from the Central Government to build such a world class institution. I wish all the success to the NIT and to the people of Meghalaya.”
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