Jammu: Union Minister of State in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India was poised to lead the world’s Startup ecosystem but regretted that Jammu and Kashmir was lagging behind.
He was addressing the first of its kind programme on ‘Industry participation in Startups’ organised by various Industry organisations of Jammu to promote local Startups.
Dr Jitendra, who is also Union Minister of State (independent charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (independent charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, said, ever since Prime Minister Modi had announced “StartUp India, StandUp India” from the ramparts of Red Fort in his Independence Day address of 2015, it picked up in a big way in across the country.
“But for certain reasons it did not receive the same impetus in J&K even though things have begun to change after the new arrangement was introduced over here from August 5 and 6, 2019.
The Union Minister said that India with its vast unexplored potential and immense innovation talent was destined for a frontline role in the world and emphasised sustainable StartUps for sustainable future growth. For this, he stressed the need for wider integration and for industry and government to work as equal partners. He said, the demarcation between the public sector and private sector was fast becoming extinct and it would have to be a partnership based on equal respect, equal stakes, equal participation and equal investment.
Dr Jitendra Singh said greater integration and synergy among industry, government departments, academia and independent institutions was crucial to creating an enabling environment for the growth of startups. He added that sustainable Startups would sustain the future economy of India and give it global visibility in the years to come.
He said that PM Narendra Modi soon after taking oath as the Prime Minister said that ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ would be the basic principle for delivering governance to the people.
“PM Modi had also said ‘government had no business to be in business and that the Government intends to create an enabling environment for various kinds of industries to flourish. True to this spirit the government launched the Start-Up India and Stand-Up India Initiative that spreading a movement from metros to various states and UTs. Due to this initiative, the number of Startups in India increased from 1100 in 2014 to 40,000 today, a huge jump,” the Union Minister said.
While talking about the pace of increasing Start-ups in the country, Dr Jitendra said that the Startup movement in Jammu and Kashmir had been slower compared to the rest of India due to various reasons but now its impact could be seen through various agri-based startups, ‘Purple revolution’ and through startups in other fields like Pharma etc. He said that youth from various parts of the UT was voluntarily giving up government and corporate jobs to start their own ventures thereby increasing their income manifold.
While addressing the audience Dr Jitendra said that repeated references to ‘Startups’ in many of PM’s speeches at regional, national and international stages was the declaration of the intent of the government and the priority it attached to startups.