Bad policies of the past left us a poor nation, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday, even as he outlined a multifaceted vision to address the country’s skewed development and attendant problems, including pockets of sticky poverty in the swathes of rural and tribal India.
Speaking as chief guest at the FE CFO Awards, he set ambitious targets for sectors that hold immense untapped potential to aid India to grow out of its problems: Village industries, automobile sector, clean-energy segments such as bio-fuel, hydrogen energy, electric vehicles. He also dwelt upon unconventional technologies – fly-ash concrete and ‘gobar’ paint – that could complement the intended developmental transformation and called for greater private sector participation.