U.S. Academics Raise Concerns Over 'Digital India' Campaign
"Only technology and innovation can enable massive changes that are needed in India. Prime Minister's visit to Silicon Valley is a long overdue acknowledgement that the government in India has finally woken up to the potential that innovation and technology can bring to India," Venktesh Shukla, president of TiE Silicon Valley, told PTI.
TiE or The Indus Entrepreneurs is one of the most powerful and prestigious organisations in the Silicon Valley.
Top Silicon Valley companies and entrepreneurs are its members.
Shukla said the entire Indian American community in Silicon Valley is geared up to welcome the Prime Minister.
"We are delighted that, for the first time after Independence, there is a government in India that won the election on the platform of growth and development and not based on identity politics or competitive populism," he said.
"We at TiE stand for wealth creation through entrepreneurship. A government in India that espouses growth, development and entrepreneurship is well aligned to our mission of creating wealth and fostering entrepreneurship," he said.
In their statement, the academics also raised the issue of Gujarat riots, and also allegations related to restrictions on non-governmental organisations, and freedom of media.
"Under Mr Modi's tenure as Prime Minister, academic freedom is also at risk: foreign scholars have been denied entry to India to attend international conferences, there has been interference with the governance of top Indian universities and academic institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institutes of Technology and Nalanda University; as well as underqualified or incompetent key appointments made to the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Film and Television Institute of India, and the National Book Trust," they alleged.
"A proposed bill to bring the Indian Institutes of Management under direct control of government is also worrisome. These alarming trends require that we, as educators, remain vigilant not only about modes of e-governance in India but about the political future of the country," the statement said.
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