PM calls innovation game-changer

Describing innovation as "a game-changer", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for devising a model that benefits not only the rich but also poor people through poverty eradication, development of agriculture and green energy.

Describing innovation as "a game-changer", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called for devising a model that benefits not only the rich but also poor people through poverty eradication, development of agriculture and green energy.

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"Innovation has a critical role to play in India's socio-economic processes and development," Manmohan Singh said after releasing here the first report of the National Innovation Council set up last year.

He also launched a portal that will serve as an information repository for innovation in the country.

It's only through creativity and innovation, solutions that are appropriate to India's conditions, that we can achieve development, the prime minister said.

Innovation is truly a game-changer, Manmohan Singh said while adding that it will enable the country to move from "incremental change to radical change".

The National Innovation Council was set up by Manmohan Singh in 2010 under the chairmanship of Sam Pitroda to discuss, analyse and help implement strategies for inclusive innovation in India and prepare a roadmap for 2010-2020, which has been designated as the decade of innovation.

Alluding to innovative advances made in areas like space technology, atomic energy and automobiles, the prime minister pointed out the need for parity, saying innovations so far have tended to benefit largely upper income groups and therefore the focus should be on benefiting ordinary people.

Describing India's freedom struggle as "a social innovation in peaceful resistance", Manmohan Singh stressed on creating "an enabling environment for innovations to flourish".