M. Venkaiah Naidu Delivered the 29th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture

While delivering his thoughts, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Former Vice President of India, said, "Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji was a visionary leader who has inspired many generations. There is no doubt that he was a pioneer, given the way he promoted the green and white revolutions. Today, India is the fifth-largest economy in the world. Indians are becoming the CEOs of MNCs, and women are proving their mettle in various fields. Over 50% of the population is below 30 years of age, and more than 65% of the population is under 35 years of age. Globally, India is seen as the future talent factory of the world, with the largest pool of human resources."

Focusing on India's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said, "In just over the year, the Government of India, under the humanitarian initiative of Vaccine Maitri succeeded in delivering 16.29 Crore doses to 96 countries. On the domestic front, India administered 2.2 billion doses in the world's largest vaccination drive. Today, India stands as the second-largest producer of wheat and rice. We have sufficient surplus food grains for our own citizens and to support other nations as well. India took a major step towards atmanirbharta in the space sector when the first rocket built by the country's private sector, "Vikram-S", took off on November 18, 2022. Our talented pool of software engineers should help India become atmanirbhar in software development, especially with respect to operating systems."

In his address, Anil Shastri, holding trustee of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Trust, said, "Shastri ji always believed that each Indian should strive to be the atmanirbhar. Today Indian parents are educating their girl child to make her atmanirbhar, not becoming reliant on anyone. It is the people who make the nation. If the people are Atmanirbhar, it is obvious that the country will be Atmanirbhar and self-reliant."