GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday suggested the IIT-Guwahati to set up a centre for disaster management and risk reduction given that disasters, natural and otherwise, are perennial problems in the Northeast.
Addressing the institute’s 22nd convocation at a virtual conference, he said the Northeast states required a high degree of technological support and intervention to tackle the problems. Assam and the Northeast are full of possibilities but the region is forced to grapple with floods, earthquakes, landslides and other industrial disasters. Their energy and efforts get wasted in combating the problems.
To effectively tackle them, a high degree of technological support and intervention is required.” A centre for disaster management and risk reduction could help tackle the problems by providing requisite expertise, he said. “The Northeast is the centre of India’s Act East policy. The region is the gateway to Southeast Asia as regards India’s relationship.
Culture, commerce, connectivity and capacity are the foundations of the relationship. Now, education is going to become a new medium in our engagement,” Modi said. The Northeast would get a new identity as new opportunities would be created, he said. Addressing the IIT graduates, the PM said he was hopeful that research would become a habit for them and a part of their thought process. “Knowledge has no boundaries. The NEP talks about opening up India’s education sector. ... Indian institutes will set up their centres abroad. This will help promote research collaboration and exchange programmes.”