Union Minister of State for Electronics & IT and Entrepreneurship & Skill Development Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed that winds of change were sweeping across the Northeast, including Nagaland. And he attributed this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission to bring the region on a par with other developed parts of the country.
Speaking at the virtual inauguration of five centres of National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) located at Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Pasighat, Dimapur and Senapati here, he recalled that there was only one entrepreneur at Software Technology Park of India (STPI) Kohima about seven months ago.
“And now STPI Kohima was packed with entrepreneurs. And that’s the sign of the future of Nagaland and the Northeast,” he said.
After the launch of Digital India in 2014, Chandrasekhar said that there had been a significant progress in using technology to transform people’s lives and governance. He said technology had enabled the government to deliver every rupee meant for every beneficiary directly to his or her bank account without corruption, leakage and delay.
On the second objective of creating more opportunities, he said it was clear during Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years that if it was not for technology, the impact would have been very different and many more livelihoods would have been lost and caused much more economic destruction.
The minister claimed that today India was the fastest growing economy in the world and the fastest growing start-up and innovation ecosystem in the world with 100 unicorns having been created, besides receiving the highest foreign direct investment.
In the last one year, he said almost 10 lakh new jobs in IT and electronics had been created. Students having digital skills and digital training would get new opportunities in jobs and entrepreneurship in the country, he added.
“We are a country that has created 100 unicorns, means a 100 billionaires. They are all youngsters who have worked and studied hard, created innovations, created wealth and prosperity for themselves. That is the New India,” he asserted.
In his address, Industries & Commerce, Employment, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship adviser Imnatiba Jamir expressed delight over the inauguration of five NIELIT centres in the region. He mentioned that the building that was originally constructed by Department of Industries & Commerce as a guest house was later revamped and given to NIELIT Dimapur centre. He said he looked forward to more employment generation in Nagaland through NIELIT by creating more jobs in the IT sector.
IT&C, SC and NRE adviser Mmhonlumo Kikon, who too spoke on the occasion, said since Chandrashekhar’s visit to Nagaland and inauguration of STPI last year, 16 E-services had gone live providing services to various departments and citizens of Nagaland. He said STPI Kohima had been recognised as one of the best STPIs in the Northeast.
He mentioned that STPI Kohima was currently fully occupied with local entrepreneurs, while encouraging youth to take up enterprising initiatives and seek support from the government, which was continually trying to address the challenges in Nagaland.
Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar also launched NECB 2.0 project for capacity building and training in digital skills in the North-eastern States. The project is funded by the Union Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), while NIELIT is the Implementing agency through its centres at Agartala, Aizwal, Gangtok Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima and Shillong.