Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday appealed to the youth to come up with new ideas to empower the country in the field of science and technology and help the government in its efforts to make India safer, stronger and self-reliant.

Speaking at an event in Udaipur, Singh stressed that the use of technology will increase across all sectors in the coming times and there is a need to achieve excellence in science and technology. He called upon the young ignited minds to ideate, innovate, research and make headways in the field to take the county to greater heights. Singh was of the view that the youth possess a unique power to create, nurture and transform and the government is providing a level-playing field to them to ensure that the vision of ‘New India’ is soon realised.

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He listed out a number of steps taken to tap the potential of young minds, including the National Education Policy 2020, which focuses on holistic education and lays equal emphasis on knowledge and skills. He also spoke on campaigns such as Ayushman Bharat, Fit India movement, which aim to create a healthy, educated and skilled workforce.

The Minister highlighted the steps taken by the Ministry of Defence for the youth to contribute to national security. He elaborated on the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, wherein the Armed Forces, Defence Public Sector Undertakings, Indian Coast Guard and Paramilitary forces seek solutions to their problem statements from the general public.

“There are two ways to resolve a problem statement. One is to issue a tender and get it resolved through a foreign company. The other is to put forth the problem statement before the young ignited minds, which is 65 per cent of the country’s population. This is the vision behind iDEX. In just five years since its launch, we have received an encouraging response. We have already launched nine Defence India Start-up Challenges. Youths have provided solutions to many problem statements. We not only adopt the ideas of the youth, but take it forward by connecting them with investors and providing grants,” Rajnath Singh said.

He also enumerated the initiatives taken to promote an entrepreneurial mindset among the youth. He stated that a culture of venture capital funding has been developed for start-ups, which is important for their hand-holding at an early stage.

“The number of unicorns in the country has crossed 100 from just four or five eight-nine years. Approximately one lakh start-ups have emerged in the last few years. It is a big proof of the success of start-up-based innovation ecosystem,” he added.

Singh pointed out that whether it is economy, science and technology, health or defence, India – the fifth largest economy – has emerged as a strong nation in recent years and is well on course to find itself among the top three economies by 2027.

“India is dreaming new dreams and setting new goals on the strength of its youth. We are striving to make India one of the strongest countries and our young ignited minds will play a pivotal role in realising that vision,” he said.

Singh also underscored the importance of a strong will to achieve any given task, stressing that both successes and failures are part of life and one should not get swayed away by the ups and downs.

Referring to the news reports of suicides by IIT and NEET aspirants in Kota, he called upon the students to remember that no goal or dream is bigger than life.

He termed it as the collective failure of society if any child takes such a drastic step. He urged all parents, relatives, teachers and friends to never judge children on the basis of their exam results, but to assess them on their hard work.