India cannot miss 4th industrial revolution, opportunity won’t come again: PM Modi

Nagpur: India cannot afford to miss the fourth industrial revolution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, while stressing that such “repeated opportunities” would not come again.

Addressing a gathering after launching developmental projects in Maharashtra, Modi said India had already missed out on making the most out of the industrial revolutions in the past.

“When the first industrial revolution came, India could not take benefit from it. We lagged behind in the second and third industrial revolution, but today when it’s time for the fourth industrial revolution, India cannot miss it. A long-term vision is pivotal for stable growth and development. India cannot miss the fourth industrial revolution, opportunity won’t come again,” PM Modi said.

Mentioning the need for permanent solutions to problems, the Prime Minister stated that the country cannot move ahead with shortcuts and highlighted that the “base of permanent development is infrastructure”.

“No country can run with shortcuts. A long-term vision is necessary for permanent development and solution. The base of permanent development is infrastructure. South Korea was a poor country once, but it changed its fate through infrastructure. Today the Gulf countries are so progressed also because they have also modernised their infrastructure and became future-ready in the last 3-4 decades,” he said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned Singapore’s infrastructure and said that the country made investments in infrastructure and made the right economic policies, and consequently it has become a “big centre of the economy” for the world.

Modi launched infrastructure projects worth Rs 750 billion in Nagpur on Sunday and asserted that this has been “possible due to the efforts of the double engine government”.

Prime Minister Modi, addressing a huge public gathering after inaugurating the ambitious Samruddhi Mahamarg connecting Nagpur and Shirdi, said that the development projects were “stalled but the new government took them up seriously and laid the roadmap for a prosperous state”.

He called for a permanent solution with long-term vision for the overall development of the country.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis announced that a plan is ready for laying the expressway from Nagpur to Goa via Marathwada and modernisation of Nagpur Airport in the immediate future.

He further said that land has been kept reserved to lay railway lines for running semi-high speed freight trains from Nagpur to Mumbai.

PM Modi on Sunday inaugurated AIIMS Nagpur with state-of-the-art facilities.

The hospital, whose foundation stone was also laid by the Prime Minister in July 2017, has been established under the Central sector scheme Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, read a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

AIIMS Nagpur, being developed at a cost of more than Rs 15.75 billion, is a hospital with state-of-the-art facilities, with OPD, IPD, diagnostic services, Operation theatres and 38 departments covering all major speciality and superspeciality subjects of Medical Science. The hospital provides modern health care facilities to the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and is a boon to the surrounding tribal areas of Gadchiroli, Gondia and Melghat.

The Prime Minister also inspected an exhibition at AIIMS, Nagpur soon after inaugurating the hospital.