Union Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that StartUps in India have grown 300 times in last 9 years.
Dr. Jitendra Singh was speaking at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan where the ‘National Innovation Awards’ instituted by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology were presented to ‘Grassroot Innovators’ by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
The minister said that before 2014, there were only about 350 startups, but after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his Independence Day speech and launched a special StartUp scheme in 2016, there was a quantum leap. in StartUps to more than 90,000 with more than 100 unicorns.
Dr Jitendra Singh further added that Prime Minister Modi also opened up the space sector for private participation, leading to more than 100 start-ups in the space sector in just three years. Similarly, Biotech StartUps have grown from about 50 to nearly 6,000, he said.
StartUps in India have grown 300 times
Dr Jitendra Singh said that India was not short of talent, capability, innovation and creativity of the youth but they lacked the enabling environment and proper patronage from the political leadership provided by PM Modi and now it is also evident that we have so much innovative talent even in to our rural youth and there is no link between the level of formal education and innovation capabilities which is evident in today’s awards.
He added that Prime Minister Modi has also tried to address this issue by coming up with the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasizes skills and not just academic degrees and prepares individuals to earn a living according to their abilities and skills.
The Minister mentioned that the nature of the awards given today and the profile of the awardees prove that there is a large number of “Grassroot Innovators” available in India who may not have much formal education but are capable of creating success stories and also creating attractive means of livelihood for themselves. .
Appreciating the efforts of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) in organizing the ‘Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship’ (FINE), Dr Jitendra Singh noted that it is a unique effort to promote science, technology and innovation even among those who may not be highly educated in the formal sense or they may not even be science students but they have innate talent and innate aptitude for innovation and entrepreneurship which can also become a source of livelihood for them.
The awards were presented in various categories namely national level, state level and student category. Two of today’s recipients have already been awarded the Padma Shri for their innovations.
Written by: Vaishali Verma
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