While speaking at IIT Kanpur’s Policy Conclave 2022, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal said that technology can play a very big role in bringing prosperity to even the farthest corners of the country. He said that technology can help to revolutionize the delivery of basic amenities, such as Healthcare through Telemedicine and Education through EdTech, to every citizen across the nation.
The idea behind the making of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is that the small retailers also need to be protected. We are happy about the fact that the large e-commerce companies are contributing to the nation’s economy and are working their way through. But can we afford to let the small retailers go extinct as has happened in the developed nations, where Mom & Pop stores are almost shut down. Or we can opt to protect the livelihoods of small retailers, he said while interacting with the students.
Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us a vision for India @2047, called the Amrit Kaal, which is based on the thoughts and feelings of the welfare of 135 crore citizens.
While speaking to the students he said that unless we have ambitious targets, big dreams and have significantly large hopes, aspirations and desires, we can never achieve greatness. There was a time when the population of our nation was considered a curse, but Prime Minister Modi has changed that thought process to talking about our young population as our biggest strength.
India’s demographic dividend provides huge opportunities and opens the doors to a very bright future for the country. So, we need a holistic approach which envisions growth in all sectors, a vision that makes it easier to do business, promotes innovation, research, development and modernity but also respects family values, culture and makes it easier to live, that is what we call Ease of Living for every single citizen.
Goyal said that India’s tryst with destiny must not become a mere wishful tryst, but should also transform into prosperity, progress and development. While stressing his faith in the students he said that he has no doubts that IIT-Kanpur and all the IITs will be at the forefront of that journey.
The Union Minister gave a Five Point Action Plan to IIT students so as to unleash India’s golden era. He asked the students to make reaching heights with quality as well as creating job opportunities their primary focus. He further asked them to strive to provide innovative solutions for the farmer’s, artisan’s and weaver’s community as well as for small retailers, so as to realise the goals of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India for the World.
The Union Minister said that the students can study digital platforms (for example the Single Window, the Pradhan Mantri GatiShakti, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and likewise and provide ideas and feedback to enhance facilities. He also asked them to help the government set the agenda for India’s G20 presidency that will be starting in December 2022.
The minister said that IIT Kanpur is the pride of India and the world by being the first institute in India to offer a Computer Science stream. The IIT Kanpur is home to distinguished alumni like Mr Narayana Murthy (Founder, Infosys), Arvind Krishna (Chief Executive Officer, IBM) and Mukesh Bansal (Founder, Myntra and Chief Executive Officer Cure.fit) to name a few.
Goyal said the city of Kanpur has a rich history and culture. He said that Kanpur is vital to India’s progress as it inspired Maharishi Valmiki to write ‘The Ramayana’ as well as has it has given the nation world-class engineers.
With due respect as per latest statistics on the small retailers, their continued growth even during the worst of last two low economic years due pandemic, has been a surprising aspect. Rather many of these small retailers have transformed them into the hybrid mode of ecommerce during this period. Another relevant aspect of this discussion is that the share of the giant ecommerce retailers in comparison to the smaller retailers (the popular and assessible kirana stores in our neighborhood) in the total business in the country is much lesser. So my feeling is that there is a need for the small retailer to get not only connected on these e platforms but also to remain relevant by being at competitive prices, to sustain themselves over a longer period due to the competitive price advantages and ease of business these giants offer