HYDERABAD: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged students to be proud of the country’s heritage and be agents of change and continuity while promoting the sustainable designs already developed in the country. Sitharaman was addressing the students, faculty and alumni of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), National Institute of Design (NID) National Institute of Fashion Technology(NIFT), Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) and Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The theme of the interaction was ‘A Talk on Digitalisation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Pillars of Indian Economic Growth’. The minister also asked the students to follow the five principles outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech this year, to make India a developed nation by 2047.
She suggested that by widening the area of activity, institutions like NID and IIP, should develop newer designs and cooperate with industry to strengthen their work. Citing various examples of indigenous sustainable designs in leather and the jewellry patterns, Sitharaman said that these can be improved for the ease of living of the present age. Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal also attended the event.