00:01Good afternoon, everyone. My sincere apologies for being late. I'm never late. I'm Japanese
00:10efficient, but today, unfortunately, clearly the machine has broken down. To Srinirajgaru
00:17on the dais, to Ravi Sana Riddigaru, distinguished founders, members of the board, industry leaders,
00:23faculty members, Andharkina, Namaskaram. It gives me an immense pleasure to be here to
00:31lay the first step in this three-city international university. I would like to congratulate Srinirajgaru
00:40to taking this from an idea and to actually executing on it. So whenever I meet Srinirajgaru,
00:47I always have a lot of asks. And that's my job. And I keep telling him that he needs to
00:55do more for Andhra Pradesh. And he's a man of very few words. He actually gets it done.
01:01And I'd like to thank Srinirajgaru for really building a world-class institution now here
01:07in the great state of Andhra Pradesh. It's truly a gift to the youth of Andhra Pradesh.
01:14I believe this is just the beginning. And as we discussed while we're driving in here,
01:195,000 students per year to start off in this campus. I like to just put all the stars,
01:24terms and conditions applied. 5,000 students per year in this campus. But I'm sure we'll
01:30do a lot, lot more as we go about in our journey. Many of you know me as the IT
01:35Minister of Andhra
01:36Pradesh. I keep telling that is my India hat. But something that I'm more passionate about
01:41is actually my education hat, my Bharat hat. I'm also the HRD minister for this great state.
01:48I truly believe that we need to unlock human capital and human potential. Only then we can
01:54deliver a lot of things. Yes, technology does change the world. No second thoughts about it.
02:00But it's education that creates people who bring about that change. And that is why education
02:06should be central to whatever we do. And that is why this event is very close to my heart.
02:13And thank you very much for having me here. I think we agreed on this day when we first
02:18met and said July 2nd we are going to do it. There's not going to be any changes. And I'd
02:22like to thank you for not changing that date.
02:25Today is not just merely starting another higher education institution or a university. I believe
02:32that it is a new way of thinking about higher education. It is what India really needs.
02:41There's a lot of debate yesterday and day first today because I was with the Honorable President
02:46of India and I met a lot of ministers including Darmendra Pradhanji and we discussed about the
02:53way forward for the Indian higher education system. And there's a lot of debate on, there's
02:59a need for a reset on a lot of the degrees that we actually offer. For many years universities
03:06were measured on the number of graduating students or degrees that they offer. But going forward
03:12I believe that we will all be judged by the transformation that we will do to humanity.
03:18So today a degree alone is not enough. It is about enabling our students to solve problems,
03:26adapt to technology and become lifelong learners. And I believe that Sri City International University
03:34is actually built to deliver that vision. India as we all know is going through inspiring
03:42times. Close to 65 percent of our population is under the age of 35. So it's the way you
03:51look at glass, half full or half empty. So we have to look at it both ways. This demographic
03:58dividend can become our greatest strength or our greatest challenge. And as a young politician,
04:05I'm very cognizant to both. If I was a little bit older I could blame the next generation.
04:12But I'm very young so I know that this responsibility is riding on young politicians like me.
04:20Under our visionary leadership of our Honourable Prime Minister Shinarendra Modi ji, lot of changes
04:25are happening in the education system. Starting with NEP to the Startup India Policy to Skill India
04:32Vikasit Bharat, it's giving us a sense of direction, a goal that India should achieve. And
04:39honestly our Education Minister Darmendra Pradhan ji has also been pushing the states quite
04:44hard to look at innovative models to lead from the front because he understands that if
04:49one state gets it done in India today, the rest of the states, not all, but majority of the
04:54states will actually compete. And that's the message he gave me, Dave, for us today when
04:58we spoke about this institution. Inspired, of course, with Vikasit Bharat, I have a very
05:04tough boss. My Chief Minister might be 75-year-old. Pardon, he's 76. So I believe that there are
05:12three 25-year-olds in him plus one newborn baby. And I'm the person stuck meeting him every day
05:21at 9.30 in the morning. Yeah. That's why my beard is graying faster. And my whoop page
05:28is actually showing that I'm older than I should be. But our goal is very clear. We want this
05:34state to lead the economic revolution of India. We are a $220 billion economy, aspiring to be
05:41a $2.4 trillion economy by 2047. And for the leaders on the dais, off the dais, who know my
05:51chief minister, if he dreams, he delivers. He's a very impatient visionary. So he is driving us in
05:59that direction. We believe that this will be powered by the growth clusters. Suri City is one of the growth
06:06clusters. So imagine 22 such growth clusters. A space city, a drone city, an automotive city, a glass city,
06:17of course we have the AC city here, a compressed biogas city, Quantum Valley, an aqua city. Look at the
06:26opportunities that we present. That is where the education minister or the HRD minister has a much
06:33larger role to play. We believe that there needs to be a tight integration with the industrial ecosystem
06:39we are building and the education ecosystem that is required. When I travel across the world,
06:46when I meet world class universities, I actually go to their centers of excellence. I go to their
06:51research centers. And for me what's even more exciting is to bring those research centers to come
06:56here. And actually tie up with of course Free City International University, with the IIT
07:02Tirupati, with the IIIT here and bring those research centers to the great state of Andhra
07:07Pradesh. I was recently in Russia. I had a chance to meet the leadership at Rosatom and they have an
07:13institute just to focus on material sciences. So I am now bringing them to Andhra University to help us
07:20really build the entire rare earth metal corridor in the northern part of Andhra Pradesh. So this
07:26kind of a tight integration is required for these industrial clusters to thrive. And
07:32Street City is one of, I am betting big on them. Clearly they have burden, reduced my load of creating
07:38additional 75,000 jobs. So you are going to do it by 2029. I am setting the deadline. You know,
07:44200
07:44companies already here from 31 countries. You know, what you are doing here is really magical,
07:51transformative. And you are an example of what India can actually do. So I would like to thank
07:55both Sreeni Rajagauru and Ravi Sanai Radhigarru for achieving this over the last two decades.
08:05It takes a lot of commitment. It takes, it's very important to dream this. So I don't think Sreeni Rajagauru
08:14gets much dreams because he lives it every day. He is a big dreamer and then he of course drives
08:19all of us to achieve. So what really gets me excited about the SIU here are three things. The first
08:27one
08:27is the work study model. I am calling it the leg model. Learn, earn and graduate. Learn, earn and graduate.
08:35I think this is very, very important. You know, when Sreeni Rajagauru told me about this, we were driving
08:42I think to Carrier Foundation. And he was very kind enough to come for that. And he was explaining
08:47this to me. It was very inspiring. And I spoke about this model to multiple industry leaders
08:55and academicians. And they said this is exactly what India needs. And education should not merely
09:02stop when you graduate. I believe that's actually the beginning of lifelong learning. And you have
09:08to learn, unlearn and learn more. And I believe that the leg model is going to really transform
09:14our entire education system. The second part is how we are going to use an integrate AI.
09:21We just heard from the investors in Anthropic, thank you for not letting us know. You should
09:28have let us know ahead of time. I would have made some money. Yeah, being a minister in
09:33Andhra Pradesh doesn't pay much. But AI is a way of life. And I agree with you that every
09:40industrial revolution has created more jobs than it has replaced. But those jobs were created
09:45in geographies where people were ready for it. People were ready to embrace it. AI is one such great
09:51opportunity. And as a HRD minister and an IT minister, I see AI to be an enabler. And you've hit
09:57the nail
09:57on its head saying that you're not able to find the AI engineers today. AI is going to transform our
10:06entire life.
10:09Today, as a politician, we are using AI in politics. We actually, as a political party, have a digital
10:16library, two terabits of data. And we are using AI so that if I'm having, you know, I'm in a
10:22press
10:22meet and I want to address the press, I can actually type and get all the information in real time.
10:26It will tell me, it will guide me on how can I have a good press meet. So imagine a
10:30political party is using it as a tool
10:33just for, you know, digital library. Imagine the opportunities that are available. So it's really
10:39exciting to hear that AI is going to be integrated and going to be part of this entire institution.
10:45Of course, startup ecosystem is very important. I see my sisters here. They're really excited. I saw a big smile
10:51when they walked in. Startup ecosystem is very, very important because as a state, as government, as industry
10:59titans here, we will create jobs, no second thoughts about it. But all of us do understand that SMEs play
11:04a very, very
11:05important role. Young girls like them will create majority of the jobs. So my chief minister gave me a clear
11:12mandate.
11:13As I said, he loves to give amazing targets. One family, one entrepreneur. His point is every family should have
11:21an
11:21entrepreneur. That is where AI is going to play a very important role. He's been telling us that either they
11:27should
11:27create an AI use case or at least use AI. So a farmer, you know, someone who is selling products
11:36on a push car to a
11:37kirana store to AI engineers. So every house should have an entrepreneur. And Sweeney Rajagaru, that is my third
11:45ask. I need your support on how do we roll this entire model out and we have to create success
11:51stories. And that's where
11:54one family, one entrepreneur is going to be very, very critical for us. To investors who are here, who have
11:59already invested in Street City, we do understand the power of what Sreeni Rajagaru has done here.
12:06As a state of Andhra Pradesh, I have a very clear mandate as we go about attracting new investments. We
12:13have now
12:13created a formal mechanism where we will reach out to investors who have already invested in our state to
12:20understand if you have any challenges and resolve those. We will have, as you will ever expand,
12:26your needs will change, your energy profile will change, you might want more green energy to different
12:33talent. We as a state are creating a desk just to help you to grow your business, to grow your
12:40organizations in the great state of Andhra Pradesh. So as I was sharing with the colleagues before I joined
12:46this meeting, I call it the 3S model. Why you should further invest in Andhra Pradesh? One is speed of
12:52doing
12:52business. Second is stability of what we do here. Our policies stand the test of time and politics. Third is
13:00service.
13:01So once we agree it's no longer your project, it becomes our project. I must say that this three-city
13:06international university is a great example of this, where I was in Russia when I cleared this project. So I
13:12didn't even waste a
13:13minute. I knew that the file came to my login. I went through it and I was in Russia. I
13:19remember exactly
13:20where I was going from one meeting to the other and we actually cleared this file. So that's the service
13:26that we
13:26offer to all our partners because we are, I believe together, together we are nation builders. I believe India
13:36can grow at double digit. It would require the private sector, the political system and the bureaucracy to work
13:46together. We are not independent. We have to work together. And Andhra Pradesh is a state that is already
13:53growing at double digit. We will grow faster, but we need all of your support. So thank you,
13:59very much Srini Rajagor for having me here. It's really inspiring. As everyone was saying,
14:03it's inspiring times. And it is truly inspiring. And I'm sure under your leadership, your vision,
14:09this model will show the way for our great nation. Thank you very much for having me and Jai Hind.
14:15Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
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