We are not competing well with China: Rahul Gandhi in Princeton

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has said that India is not competing well with China.

Rahul, while addressing students at the Princeton University on Tuesday, said that it was very important for India to compete with China expeditiously as it is moving ahead with 'tremendous power.'

"We have to compete with China and we are not doing that well. China has a very clear vision. Does India have a similar vision? What does that vision look like? What kind of cooperation do we have between the two nations? These are the fundamental questions we are looking forward to. We need to realise that China is moving ahead with a tremendous power. And we have to work in accordance with that," he said.

Rahul Gandhi further said that the centralisation of power is another issue which India needs to deal with.

Vouching for a more transparent system, he said, "The centralisation of power is one big reason. Too few people control too much. The decentralisation of power is needed. Transparency is needed. People should know what is happening in the meetings in which laws are made. To me. it's all about opening up."

Rahul also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make-in-India programme instead of targetting large business should concentrate on promoting small businesses.

While asserting that the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) initiative should help small businesses prosper, Rahul said, "In my view, the highlight of the 'Make in India' concept and the target of the 'Make in India' concept should be different. So, the prime minister feels that target of the concept should be large businesses. I feel that the concept should be targetting the smaller businesses."

Rahul also said that India needs to work on providing adequate education and health facilities to all its people, irrespective of whether they are rich or poor.

He further averred the need to work on the lines of gender equality.

Rahul Gandhi's address comes days after his recent address at the University of California, Berkeley, where, in his speech on 'India at 70', he reflected on contemporary India and the path forward for the world's largest democracy.