CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, in the "Think to Dare" series of event at Raj Bhavan interacted with about 250 startup –entrepreneurs and felicitated 11 of them for their outstanding achievements.
Calling the entrepreneurs as national assets and builders of country, he urged the entrepreneurs, particularly the youth, to internalise Indian values and Indianness in their day-to-day lives, which will be inspirational for our youth as well.
Asking them to nurture family values as Indian society has evolved around families, he lamented at the mushrooming of old-age houses. "Where parents are forced to live".
Elaborating on how our eternal Indian ethos, such as "Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", the governor also quoted the saint Vallalar's "Vaadiya Payirai Kanda Pothu Ellam Vaadinaaen" which says "Where I see a grass wilting, my heart wilts". "This is the essence of Indian value system", he added.
In his reply to a question, he mentioned how the nation is having a multisectoral transformation by addressing the issues and challenges comprehensively. "In a very short span of time, we have become the most digitised nation in the world, with 40% of global digital transactions. He mentioned how the number of medical colleges has increased by 70%.
"This year, our State had 11 new medical colleges, and we will soon achieve our goal of having one medical college in every district", he said adding "we have more than 10,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendra (generic drug stores).
He said today, AYUSH (alternative medicine) is not widely accepted in India but is recognised globally. "The value of exports of AYUSH-based products is more than $18 billion", he said.