India Ideas Summit

Prime Minister of India has recently addressed the 45th anniversary of India Ideas Summit which is being hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

The theme for this year’s Summit is ‘Building a Better Future’.

Exhortation

• Addressing the ‘India Ideas Summit’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the need to keep the poor and the weak at the core of the development agenda, saying that ‘Ease of Living’ is as important as ‘Ease of Business’.
• According to the Prime Minister, India is contributing to create a prosperous and strong world through the call of ‘Self-reliant India’.
• Describing the Indian economy as an ideal combination of openness, opportunities and options, the Prime Minister said that in the last six years, efforts have been made to make the Indian economy more open and reform oriented.
• Also, through these reforms more competitiveness, more transparency, expansion of digitization, more innovation and more policy stability have been ensured.
• The Prime Minister underlined that there exist vast opportunities to invest in various sectors of India. He also mentioned the recent historical reforms in the agricultural sector.

Self-reliant India campaign and agricultural reform

• Under the third installment of the Self-Reliant India Campaign, some major announcements were made about the agriculture sector, which included-
• ‘Vocal for Local with Global Outreach’ scheme will be launched to assist micro food enterprises (MFE) with an amount of Rs 10,000 crore towards entry into the formal sector.
• Announcement of Rs 20,000 crore ‘Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada’ scheme for the development of marine and inland fisheries.
• The government will start the ‘National Animal Disease Control Program’ with a total outlay of Rs 13,343 crore to eradicate animal related diseases.
• Apart from this, several other announcements were also made by the government, including beekeeping initiatives and animal husbandry infrastructure development fund etc.

U.S.-India Business Council

• The S.-India Business Council (USIBC) was formed in 1975 as a business advocacy organization to enlighten and encourage the private sectors of both India and the United States to enhance investment flows.
• The organization serves as a direct link between business and Government leaders, resulting in increased trade and investment to strengthen ties between the two nations.
• In 2017, USIBC announced a collaborative initiative titled Women for Women Innovators, Social Leaders, & Entrepreneurs (WISE) to offer leadership, mentoring, and development opportunities for women entrepreneurs and innovators.

UPSC