Focus on economics and creation of employment: KTR

IT Minister KT Rama Rao said politicians were largely to be held accountable for their inability to arrive at consensus on national priorities and devoting their energies to achieve them.

The future of India would augur well if people were not distracted from economics, Rama Rao said while addressing the first convocation of the 

Mahindra University here on Saturday.

“Politics can wait. It can happen six months once in five years and remaining four and half years, I think the nation’s polity and political leadership has to remain focused on economics and creation of employment and issues that really matter for the future,” he said.

Taking potshots at the union government, the IT Minister said back in 1987, India and China, countries of similar size in terms of population, had similar size of economy as well i.e., $470 billon. However, 35 years later, China had a $16 trillion GDP while India still had only $3 trillion. “We still keep dreaming 5 trillion dreams,” he said.

“Somewhere or the other, we seem to have lost track of our most important priorities and instead focused on the issues



that distracted us and calls for divisiveness among ourselves,” he said.

Amongst many of the perceived problems of India, the IT Minister said one problem commonly noted was that brightest minds were working endlessly to solve the problems of the rich, while ignoring problems of the poor.

“Hardly anyone has focused on building houses and toilets for the poor but there are hundreds and thousands of bright engineers and architects who are constructing villas and gated communities for the rich. It’s time we change the lopsided priorities and ensure the task of nation building remains supreme for everyone,” he said.

Stating that Telangana has become a role model State in the country to emulate, Rama Rao said the State was a champion in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among youth. He encouraged the graduating students of the university to look for opportunities available in Telangana and Hyderabad.

Bharat Biotech International Limited CMD Krishna Ella, Mahindra University Chancellor Anand Mahindra and Tech Mahindra CEO & MD CP Gurnani also spoke.