Pokhriyal asks IITs to seize opportunity in ban on Chinese apps

Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Tuesday urged premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other educational institutions to seize the opportunities opened up by India’s ban on 59 Chinese mobile applications.

Pokhriyal asked the education sector at an academic event at IIT Madras to step up efforts to help make India ‘atma nirbhar’ (self-reliant).

“Don’t let the opportunity go. This will take us forward on the path of growth," Pokhriyal said.

“We don’t need them (Chinese apps)…we have the vision to do it," the minister said. When the challenges are great, all must rise to the occasion, he added.

India, with a sizeable pool of innovation and designing establishments, including IITs and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), can create innovation limit and applications for every day use. In any case, these establishments have generally been scholastically situated as opposed to item and administration makers for



business sectors. Be that as it may, as of late, the center is by all accounts moving towards business enterprise and item advancement through committed government plans, hatching focuses and tie-ups with ventures.

“We are very appreciative of the bold decision the government has made, taking us closer to a new atma nirbhar India. This is going to change the trajectory and create a whole new revolution for our swadeshi apps. With this new move, startups such as ours will play a great role in boosting the Indian economy and help build an independent tech and startup ecosystem. We are all geared up and ready to be part of the Digital India revolution and enable our creators to earn a sustainable income while they focus their efforts to make in India," said Pulkit Agrawal, an IIT-Bombay alumnus and co-founder of tech start up Trell.

India on Monday upped the ante against China, announcing a ban on 59 Chinese mobile apps, including Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, and Tencent’s WeChat, citing security concerns.