There’s need to do things in innovative ways: President

Advisor to the Prime Minister Sam Pitroda said the nation still faced the challenges of disparity; equitable development was happening,but “not fast enough”. Pitroda called on IITians to help build a new India that must be about raising the “people at the bottom of the pyramid”.

“IITians can not only help by contributing advice on policy but more importantly also help in execution. Help us in implementation,” Pitroda said.

Noted author and The New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman said IITians were a great hope for India and many more IITs should be set up. “You need a government — and I think the present one is such a government — that will nurture and encourage everything that comes from the bottom of the pyramid to the top,” he said.

Observing that the future would not be about developed or developing nations,Friedman said it will be about whether nations offer a High Imagination Enabling environment or a Low Imagination Enabling environment. He said the most important “economic competition would be between you and your imagination” as the world ‘flattened’ to provide an even more level playing field to all.

Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooqp Abdullah,also present at the opening session,noted that IITs were “vitally important to India’s future”.

Rajat Gupta,Chairman of Pan-IIT Alumni Global,noted how far the organisation had grown from being a group of 25 IITians ten years ago.

The Pan-IIT Conference focuses on “Sustainable Transformation — Our New India”. It will continue in Noida till October 31.