NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government would leave no stone unturned to make India a preferred global investment destination, as he sought foreign investment to upgrade and modernise urban centres, offering a business friendly climate and a huge market.
Addressing a Bloomberg event, Modi underlined the need to tackle urbanisation and suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic had thrown up an opportunity to rework things.
“We are looking at a future where a major chunk of education, healthcare, shopping may happen online. Our cities need to be ready for the convergence of the physical and digital worlds,” he said The PM also called for a reset of processes and practices as countries around the world seek to “restart” after Covid-19 forced many of them to impose lockdowns to check the spread of the disease that was first spotted in China.
“The biggest question is how to restart? The restart will not be possible without a reset. A reset of mindset. A reset of processes. And a reset of practices,” he said and pointed to new protocols developed following the World Wars.
“Covid-19 has also given us a similar opportunity to develop new protocols in every field. This opportunity should be grabbed by the world if we want to develop resilient systems for the future. We should think on post-Covid requirements of the world. A good starting point would be the rejuvenation of our urban centres,” Modi said through a video link.
He said the pandemic had given an opportunity to make cities more liveable. “Covid-19 has given a chance to accelerate our process of making cities more liveable for people. This includes better housing facilities, better work environment, shorter and efficient travel... Can we not build sustainable cities where these features are the norm and not exception?” he asked.