New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, during an interactive session on Northeast India’s integration with Southeast Asia and Japan at Kirori Mal College, Delhi, underscored India’s trajectory towards a technologically-driven future. Emphasising key sectors, he highlighted the pivotal role of semiconductors, electric mobility, space industry, and drones.
Talking about India’s future, Jaishankar said, “To me, the future will be semiconductors, it will be electric mobility, it will be space industry, it will be drones, it will be clean tech, it will be renewables. I would like the sunrise industries to be in the north-east.”
The External Affairs Minister said that people around the world are fascinated by India’s technology feats. He called Chandrayaan-3 mission and COVID management among the most impactful thing done by India in the past 10 years.
He said, “Probably much more fascinating to the world is actually those technology feats that we do. I would say in the last 10 years, probably the most impactful thing we have done, other than COVID management, was going to the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 mission has had a huge impact on the perception of Indians abroad. And finally, as I said, a lot of it is about actually a country which has the ability to stand up for itself, for its interests, for its citizens, stand up to pressure, and in a sense, you know, radiate its own persona and its culture.”
On border policing and connectivity Jaishankar said, “I think every country has a right to ensure that its borders are protected. Any migration that takes place is legal and it is regulated. This is the right of a state. This is an obligation of a state adding that he emphasised that India has failed in this for many years but now the things will be different.”
During the interaction, EAM Jaishankar highlighted that securing the border doesn’t mean cutting off connectivity, rather, it involves ensuring that connectivity remains intact.
“So I think there is a very clear consciousness today, both in the central government as well as in all the governments of the North East, that managing the border, securing the border is very important. Now securing the border doesn’t mean cutting off connectivity. In fact, on the contrary, if there is no connectivity, then people will come through various needs. said Jaishankar,”
“It is only when there is connectivity that you have created a pathway and then you regulate the pathway. So for me actually it’s not an either or. Securing the border and creating connectivity are part of a package. Neglecting the border and allowing uncontrolled migration is another package. Each one as you know has its, forgive my saying it, a political outlook and a certain history.” EAM Jaishankar added.
Moreover some other questions were also asked like, how did did the government willl ensure that the youth of the northeast has a fair shot at national employment opportunities?
In response Jaishankar said, I would say one answer to that is actually by investing more deeply in the north-east assets. That you know the more educational institutions, because that leads to the last question, the more educational institutions which come up there and you know the more business investments that there are there, there’s then a natural you know I would say ecosystem of capability and creativity which is built up.”
