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Pune techies told to Modi-fy outlook in PM’s social impact message
Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged Pune techies to mobilise students for volunteering in socially impacting activities with the use of technology
Emphasising on rural welfare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged Pune techies to mobilise students for volunteering in socially impacting activities with the use of technology. Modi was interacting with IT and electronic manufacturing professionals and key industry leaders from across the country through video-conference to further the Self 4 (For) Society initiative, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The Self 4 (For) Society initiative aims to encourage the country’s youth towards social change, transforming individual efforts into a collective approach to mass impact, all using technology. In the lieu of the initiative, Modi on the occasion also launched the Main Nahin Hum (I to We) portal and app which will be used to enable IT professionals and organisations conjoin their efforts towards social causes, and service to society, on one platform.
Persistent Systems, which was one of the many IT companies to be a part of the interaction, raised concerns about water conservation, through its various community initiatives in the rural areas of the country.
Acknowledging their efforts, especially to mitigate drought in Maharashtra, Modi said, “I would suggest the young techies to use technology to expand the scope of positive and sustainable change in the agricultural sector. Looking at ways to help the farmer should be on the agenda and one way to do it could be to target university and college students. In a city like Pune, a good majority of students come from rural areas, with many having an agricultural background. These individuals should be identified and trained to be change-makers, so that using technology they can empower the farmers in their respective villages.”
Anand Deshpande, chairman and managing director, Persistent Systems, said, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with the prime minister on such serious issues. It was indeed a great experience and we will try our best to start working on his suggestions. We have already involved ourselves in various community programmes and student-centric social initiatives. Our collaborations with several technical colleges provide us a good opportunity to take this vision forward.”
“India’s youngsters are leveraging the power of technology wonderfully and they are using technology not only for themselves, but also for the welfare of others which is a wonderful sign,” said Modi. At the session, the prime minister discussed various national issues around sanitation, cleanliness, farmer welfare, environmental conservation and education.
Several IT companies from cities like Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata participated in the interaction on Wednesday. From Pune, Persistent Systems was the only company which took part in the session.
