Public sector is the spine of Indian economy, contributes to societal upliftment: Vice-President

New Delhi: “Public sector is our pride, the public sector is the spine of the Indian economy,” said Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar at the presentation of the SCOPE awards in New Delhi on Thursday.

Sharing views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi about public sector, he stressed that public sector stands for profit and people have misconceptions and associate public sector with liability. Profit is in the form of massive contribution in societal upliftment, he added.

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He further lauded the rich human resource of public sector that enabled opening of large number of bank accounts of general public resulting in seamless transfer of direct benefit to farmers and other poor segments.

Expressing confidence in the potential and capability of the public sector, Shri Dhankhar exhorted the public sector to make full use of emerging and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Stressing on the importance of technology for the security and development of the nation, Vice-President said “Research and development will define how strong a nation will be and how secure a nation will be”. He exhorted the public sector to invest in research and development and handhold the institutions in this regard.

Referring to recent improvements in governance Vice-President, Dhankhar said that now governance is transparent and accountable and now there is no incursion in the governance of public sector by the authorities.

“Patronage is not a word in the public sector. The public sector has never believed in patronage. It has performed objectively. There had previously been some kind of incursions in their governance by the authorities where they were directed and rendered helpless”, he added.

Emphasizing on the empowerment of women and need for bold decision making instead of knee-jerk reactions, the president praised the recent constitutional amendment to prove one, third reservation to women in parliament and state legislatures.

Terming this provision as historical as it will allow half of humanity to actively participate in governance, he said that “This reservation has a great societal element. It is horizontal and vertical which means Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe women, for these two categories there is already a reservation in Parliament and legislature, but one third of their category will be women”.

Expressing his anguish over use of ignorance of people for political benefit, he said “ If informed minds, sensible minds, whom we regard well trade on ignorance of the people, it is antithetical to morality, ethics and an injustice to the nation”.

Further in his address he appealed everyone present to believe in economic nationalism. “Time has come when as Indians we must believe in economic nationalism. Our country is being bled because of imported items that we can make here. We are not respecting the Vocal for Local. Being Vocal for Local as indicated by the Prime Minister encapsulates a sense of nationalism”, he added.

SCOPE Chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Vice-Chairman of SCOPE Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay, Director General of SCOPE Atul Sobti and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

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