President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said that Bengal was a 'slow starter' in the IT revolution of the country and asked its scientists to embrace the new era of innovation and discovery. The President was speaking at the closing ceremony of the centenary celebrations of Bose Institute in Kolkata. "Bengal was India's earliest industrial and manufacturing economy. With that legacy and with its educational institutions it should have led the IT revolution all over the country. But for whatever reasons it was a slow starter in IT and IT-enabled services. That boom moved to other states such in those south of the country," Kovind said. The President attended the event at Bose Institute after paying a visit to Jorasanko (birthplace of Rabindranath Tagore) and Netaji Bhawan in the morning. Urging Bengal scientists to embrace the new era of innovation and discovery, President Kovind said, "Now Bengal has another chance. We are in the midst of an explosion of digital technologies and cutting-edge disciplines. All these throw up great opportunities for Bengal, for Bengal's science and for Bengal's talent pool of young scientists. Our greatest tribute to Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose would be to embrace this new era of innovation and discovery just as we embraced and led the process of innovation and discovery a century ago."
