Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said it was time that we stopped putting India down and tried to make it self-confident. ‘‘We need a self-confident India. We need to stop talking India down,’’ Singh said in his address at the third convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B) here on Sunday.Singh said India did not seek arrogance or false pride, but self-confidence. He said there was also need for more higher educational institutions to cater to the ever-growing need of students. ‘‘We need more and more such institutions (like IIIT-B),’’ he said. The minister said only one among the 50 students who applied to these institutes got admitted. ‘‘I do not think the rest of the students are incapable of making the grade. we need more and more of them (higher learning institutions) in India,’’ he said.Singh told the graduating students to think big and do big.Later, he told reporters that the outlook for the economy was ‘‘good’’. However, he refused to answer any other queries concerning the condition of the economy or the fiscal situation.
