Techno power defines development footing of a nation: Prez

Noting that the development status of a nation was fashioned by its technological prowess, President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon engineers and scientists to leverage the country's knowledge infrastructure to develop growth-inducing technology and also provide requisite foresight on it.
Inaugurating the three-day-long 28th Indian Engineering Congress, organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) here today, the President said a nation's progress was not guaranteed by its stock of natural resources alone but by its technological prowess.
"The development status of a nation is fashioned by its technological prowess. We have to make a choice of technologies for development based on the socio-economic, environmental and security factors and on availability of resources and infrastructure," he said.

Japan and Singapore were examples of nations that developed on the sheer strength of cutting-edge technology, he pointed out.
It was time that greater emphasis was laid on developing suitable grassroot technologies for empowerment of rural population, he said, adding, that rural rejuvenation would be possible only through promotion of technology that catered to their needs.
Pointing out that the world was beginning to emerge from the second round impact of the global economic crisis, Mukherjee said our immediate challenge was to reverse the deceleration and nurse our growth path back to the eight per cent plus levels.
"India too felt the repercussions of global slowdown. Our economic growth declined in the last two years and at five per cent in 2012-13, it was the lowest in the last ten years.

"Positive factors like continuing rise in per capita income, expanding middle-class consumers and a young and energetic workforce give me confidence that as the global economy revives, we will be able to secure a faster growth," the President remarked.