India needs ideas, energy from CII: President Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said just as much as funds, the country also needs their ideas, energy and drive from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The President congratulated all the awardees -Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd. for receiving this year's CII President's Award for Lifetime Achievement and those conferred with Woman Exemplar Awards.

He said that the institution of the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award in 2005 is a welcome initiative to promote women's empowerment at the community level by discovering and recognizing those who have, against all odds, excelled and contributed significantly to the development process in India.

"This will be a great encouragement for the countless number of women who are contributing in different ways to strengthening our nation and its economy," he said while presenting the CII President's Award for Lifetime Achievement to Bajaj and CII foundation Woman Exemplar Award in New Delhi today.

He urged the CII to leverage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to re-imagine interventions and transformative solutions to address the higher developmental challenges in India.

He emphasized that they should have a pan-Indian outlook and not limit themselves to a few geographies for CSR development.

He stated that given the magnitude of the challenges before our country and the relatively short time available to address them, partnerships will play a very crucial role.

"It is important to collaborate for achieving scale, developing solutions to complex social problems and for technology development," he added.

The President said that to herald a new dawn in our nation, we must leverage the strengths of all sectors: the resolve, resources, and convening power of governments; the compassion, will and outreach of non-profits; the innovation, know-how, and capabilities of the private sector; and the determination and aspiration of communities as a whole.

He said that he expects CII as an industry association to reinforce and converge the initiatives of corporates in this sector.

He was delighted that this is being undertaken through a dedicated CII Foundation set up for this purpose.