Focus on innovation and startups, Union Minister of State for Education urges students at IIT Madras

Mr. Sarkar inaugurated a workshop on public policy development at the Institute on Friday

Subhas Sarkar, Union Minister of State for Education, inaugurated a workshop on public policy development for ‘Amrit Kaal’ at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Friday.

Mr. Sarkar spoke about the importance of research, and urged students to focus on innovations and startups. The Union government had launched the Atal Innovation Mission to promote innovation, and the industry must contribute by providing timely guidance, he said.

The National Education Policy 2020 would ensure the seeds for starting a new era, and give new direction to 21 st century India, the Minister said. The registrars of the various participating institutions had a pivotal role to play in ensuring that the institutes steadily progressed as per their mission and vision, he said.

“The government is committed to providing an enabling environment to build a new India which will take advantage of the opportunities of the present and future,” Mr. Sarkar said.

Institute director V. Kamakoti said the workshop brought together all possible stakeholders from civil servants and elected officials, to lawyers and doctors to create a think tank to help in the effective formulation of public policy.

The Minister also interacted with the Prime Minister’s Research Fellows and inaugurated a capacity-building workshop on leadership skills for registrars of IITs, IISERs and IISc.