I am indeed grateful for the sentiments expressed by the Hon'ble Minister, very kind words for me, Hon'ble Governor of Karnataka, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot Ji, Shri H D Kumaraswamy Ji, a man of steel who is also Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries. These two words, heavy, steel and industry, define him. Ladies and gentlemen, the DNA of Shri H D Kumaraswamy is very strong.
I came to Bengaluru earlier to seek blessings of our former Prime Minister, Deve Gowda Ji. Sought his blessings even at the Delhi residence. We carry a great debt for the honour the family has given me and my wife.
So when it was a Bengaluru visit, the message came from the Hon'ble Minister that I have to be at this institute. Ladies and gentlemen, yes, I see some ladies also. Of course, I come with one.
So that can't be wrong. I have been involved with this kind of power, not that power of politics which H D Kumaraswamy has been involved.
Hon'ble Governor has also been involved. But I have been involved with power that powers the power as a legal professional for long. So I know the subject slightly and what your institute stands for.
Shri Koppu Sadashiv Murthy, CMD, BHEL, for some good reason he has chosen not to address today, which means he is a man of action, works in silence or gives the next man full opportunity. I may be reading too much into it. Shri B. Shyam Babu, Executive Director and everyone present in this hall, everyone.
Namaskar. And if there is a human soul around from state of West Bengal, anyone? Well, in that case I would have said Namaskar. My message would have gone to the Hon'ble Chief Minister loud and clear.
I was Governor there for three years. I stepped into the premises and had the occasion to see creativity. I did put some searching questions and I could figure out the role this PSU plays in sectors of energy and infrastructure.
Energy is all important. If we are energy deficient, much of development cannot take place. And there was indeed a time when we were energy deficient.
Even when the Hon'ble Prime Minister assumed office in 2014, he discovered to everyone's surprise that there were thousands of villages that did not have access to energy power. Some were in hilly terrain areas, very challenging geographical situations. But now energy has been the main focus of the government.
And when it comes to energy, it comes to the domain of BHEL. Thermal power could not be activated without BHEL coming into picture. There was a time around the end of the last century or the beginning of this one where equipment was sourced from BHEL and the docket was full.
And there were imports from our neighbouring country. And then I learnt something very different. I must share it with you.
Some state governments had chosen to import equipment from a neighbouring nation. But that neighbouring nation was getting power equipment from Germany. But it was then the quality of BHEL equipment was rated very high.
A testament to the leadership of the BHEL, its workforce and its commitment. But technology has changed so fast and climate change has really shaken us that we all are now in a groove to going for renewable energy, solar energy. And that has turned out to be a challenge to bodies like BHEL.
I'm happy to share with you what you have done. You have learnt fast. You are changing fast.
And I remember it was around four, five, six months back, the Hon'ble Minister did take note of the air pocket you were having, the headwind you were facing and what a change for the positive as indicated by the Hon'ble Minister. We can see the difference. I have firmly held, having known the public sector ever since I was elected to Parliament in 1989, and had the good fortune to be a Union Minister.
The commitment, dedication, level of understanding and expertise of human resource of PSUs is unbeaten, unrivalled by the private sector. They work for the nation with conditions that hardly compare with private sector. They work under challenging circumstances.
But over the last decade, a new respect has come to be given to public sector, particularly public sector of your kind, that is contributing to growth history of this nation. As indicated by the Honourable Minister and very rightly, Viksit Bharat is no longer a dream, it is an object. But to fructify it, role of BHEL has to be massive.
It is there. What I saw in the laboratory or the manufacturing unit was modernity. I did put some questions.
Are there private players? I was given to understand for that particular category there are two, three. You face fierce competition, yet you perform. And perform for a sector that is core sector, railways being one, defence being another, also in the field of nuclear.
I would therefore urge, and I am sure you must be focussing on it, please at least bring about three things. One, these are not the times for us to stand alone. You must generate synergy with like-minded institutions in academia, in engineering and also in the private sector, so that in togetherness you can engage in innovation, a creativity that meets contemporaneous demands.
When it comes to your conventional work, you are already in touch with NTPC. It is a good relationship, sometimes tricky, sometimes challenging, sometimes one telling the other you are wrong, and sometimes when both are right, both things are wrong. I leave it at that, I know both.
So capacity building, research and development, innovation, these must be passwords now for success. And that is where it comes into picture. Research and development, investment in our country, earlier was not even in convention.
It was taken to be a daily investment. Neither the public sector nor the government nor the private sector thought of it. In the process we became parasitical.
We depended on that somebody will do it, that somebody will define how much they will give us, at what price they will give us. Then suddenly came an era when the country's mood of gloom and despondency disappeared. It started with hope, then it became hope and possibility.
Then people came to test development. Development in the shape of having toilet in the house, water in the tap, having affordable housing, having a cooking gas connection, having road connectivity, having digital connectivity. They never thought of it.
When they had this, it became a system of hope and possibility. But over ten years, the progress has been phenomenal, beyond expectation. And I'm saying so, because I was a minister in 1990.
That was the time when our gold was shipped out to be placed in Switzerland in two banks. That was the time when I went to Srinagar along with Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister. We did not have on the streets of Srinagar more than dozens of people.
And look at now, our foreign reserve is around 700 billion US dollars. Could be 680, 700, not an issue any longer. And Jammu and Kashmir has had tourist influx of more than 2 crore annually.
Big change. Big change has come in this also. This has given a great challenge to the people in power.
And H D Kumaraswamy is the Senior Cabinet Minister. Expectations of the people are soaring high. They have become suddenly too demanding.
What you have done, they say so what? Take quantum jump. You already have in scientific situations Quantum Computing Commission, hydrogen mission. But people are not having any ceiling over them.
According to them, all ceilings are broken. Young minds have got into start-ups. They are doing wonders.
And therefore a challenge to PSUs like you. You have to lead with innovation, research, development. I can admire you that you are making 2.5% investment in R&D.
It's not enough. Comparably fine, congratulations. But when examined in global perspectives, it is not.
Only the other day I had the occasion to reflect that our IITs, IIMs, they are talented people all over the world. But what is the fund of IITs here? Harvard has a fund of over 55 billion US dollars, all coming from the alumni. Similarly, you also will have to converge on one platform, tie up with engineering institutes, IITs, scientific institutions, and make work available for your human resource.
You will have to set benchmark, not out of need, but out of vision. Not to compare with what is best in the world, but to be the best in the world. And that is possible for one good reason I must share with you.
Silicon Valley, we hardly had any Indians few decades ago. In the larger global corporate world, Indian footprint was lacking. Now there is no global outfit that doesn't have at the apex level an Indian genius.
And why there? Who is heading the World Bank? Who is critically involved with the International Monetary Fund? And what are they telling us? They are telling us that India, you are a country that is role model for others when it comes to digitisation. And we don't need this accolade because we know it. Our digitisation has penetrated to the last level.
People are using it for service delivery. But your role is very different. You are involved with the core sector of infrastructure, defence, nuclear, aerospace.
And therefore, you will have to focus with higher intensity on research and development because only our engineers and scientists are custodians of legacy which India has. It is very easy to execute a project. It is difficult to develop a concept of it.
It is very easy to replicate machines. But to create a model is difficult. I therefore would want that this organisation must focus on several areas.
I wouldn't venture to reveal to them. You know it. But the area has to be, you have to be, with the times, if not ahead of times, when it comes to technology application, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, machine learning, blockchain and the kind, and the explosive 6G growth scenario which we are having.
All these require your focused attention, deep commitment, synergetic stance. You have to be in sync with other bodies and aspirations of the people. No country in past decade has developed so much as India.
And no country's human resource, human population has been fired with aspiration and expectation. Our people want delivery at a very fast speed.
They want delivery at nuclear speed. You have to enlighten people that getting a government job is not the only option. As a matter of fact, this is one of the last options. If the world is accolading us, it is not because we have government service or government jobs, because we have investment opportunities. We have creative areas. So we have to fire the ambition of young people, young minds, to take to startups.
But every startup has to be backed up by bodies like yours. What I have seen today, we need that in large number, why two, three only? So you can handhold people who are keen to start up, provide things to them.
I made a suggestion to the CMD that we are manufacturing. Manufacturing is the only thing that will galvanise our economy into growth domain. But we are depending on machines that are not made in this country.
Why not think of making the machines here? You must get into that groove. Get that technology. And not only in one area, in several areas.
Any import substitution must be received with open arms. We must not depend on imports. Being vocal for local means more jobs, more creativity within the country.
I therefore appeal to all of you that you have a leader in command who is a senior cabinet minister, and who minces no words. His words carry authority. If he asserts something in public domain, that is bound to be realised on paper by way of a policy.
And therefore particularly when this is located also in the home state of the Hon'ble Minister, it must emerge with nuclear speed to set example for other PSUs in terms of research development and innovation.
My best wishes to all of you in this venture. Thank you so much.
