Mangalore: “Make our country an innovation hub of the world. The young generation of Indians have the potential to lead our country in innovation in various areas,” said G Satheesh Reddy, president, The Aeronautical Society of India, former secretary and former chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation, and former scientific advisor to defence minister, government of India reported TNN.

Reddy was the chief guest at the 21st convocation of the National Institute of Technology Surathkal, Karnataka. Delivering the convocation address, he spoke about how India has progressed over the yeas in terms of science, education, warfare systems and technology.

Speaking on academics, Reddy said that the country earlier had few IITs, NITs, and IISERs. “Today, every state has one such premier institution. It is also worth noting that earlier, 80% of the graduates looked for green pastures by flying abroad, but now close to 75% of them are staying back in the country. They are either improving technologies or investing their knowledge in startups. Today, the country has close to 1 lakh startups, thanks to the incubation centres at these premier institutions, and 90% of Indian startups are run by youngsters.,” he said, noting that every startup wants to compete at the international level.

On the progress in warfare systems, Reddy said “Today, we have developed several missiles, which are considered the first in the world. It was visionaries such as former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who asked youngsters to, Be unique, think big and aim for higher targets,” stressed Reddy, adding that Kalam focused on five types of missiles in one go. “The Indian warfare system has everything. Starting from missiles to torpedoes, submarines to radar systems, and it is also worth noting that India is the first country to have some of these warfare technologies, which is a sign of being self-reliant,” he added.

C Anandharamakrishnan, director, CSIR-NIIST, who was the guest of honour, spoke on how the fresh graduates work towards the goal of Amrit Kaal. “The global population will reach nine billion by end of 2050. We need enough water for the population, but availability is limited. India is the third-largest energy-consuming and fourth-largest carbon dioxide producing country in the world. We have to work on addressing these issues at the earliest,” he said.