Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has presented a seven-point model for India's development. During the Facebook Live Dialogue organised by the RSS-affiliated organisation Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, he emphasised the need to make development a public movement on the lines of the freedom movement. He also stressed on making the indigenous language a contact language instead of English.
During the session on Sunday, Kumar said: "Today, most of the people put the responsibility of development on government agencies... this approach is wrong. We all should move beyond selfishness and do something for the nation. Every citizen should play proper role for the development."
The NITI Aayog Vice Chairman's seven-point development model for the development of India include replacing English with the indigenous language as a contact language, governance with accountability and transparency, development approach, giving importance to the private sector, focussing on the employment scenario, making farming profitable and reducing the burden on farmers, linking urbanisation with the development of villages, and reconciliation with nature in place of victory over nature.
"We have to remove developmental inequality. We talk about online education but the fact is that only 35 per cent of schools in India have internet connection and only 65 per cent of schools have electricity," Kumar said.
Rajiv Kumar said that in the changing times we need to amend the village development model of Mahatma Gandhi. "The world is changing very fast. Technology and consumer needs are also changing. Therefore, it is not possible for any village or any country to meet all its needs. In the changing scenario, a village or country is not able to There is a need to produce and export more than the purchases or imports for consumption. Therefore, self reliance should be the model of India's rural development," he added.
On the changing scenario of urbanisation, he said that "we no longer need to be in one place for the exchange of ideas and innovations".
"We can meet in a virtual cloud (internet). Therefore, there is no longer the need for big cities of modern times."
The Deputy Chairman of NITI Aayog answered several questions. Dr. Rajesh Biniwal, convener of the Research for Resurgence Foundation, conducted this dialogue.
( With inputs from IANS )