Nagpur, Sep 15 : Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar on Sunday said that India is no longer a sleeping giant but on the rise which is unstoppable and continual.

'The economic upsurge is exponential and as per the global institutions, India is a favourite destination of investment and opportunity. In the next few years, India will be the third-largest global economy,' the Vice President said while addressing the inauguration of the digital tower at the Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur.

He added that disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain are challenges and opportunities.

'They are challenges as long as you don't rise to the occasion. The moment you rise to the occasion, these technologies will be opportunities. India is one of the few countries in the world that has taken the global lead in these technologies. Our quantum computing mission, a huge allocation of Rs 6,000 crore, will be a game changer in the computing world. Green hydrogen mission by 2030, with an allocation of Rs 19,000 crore, will create 8 lakh jobs with 8 lakh crore investments,' the Vice President said.

'Our deep penetration in digitisation has been acknowledged by the World Bank. The World Bank has hailed India as a role model to the rest of the world. How to go digitisation? and why not? In a country like ours, where more than 100 million farmers get direct transfer three times a year and there has been no leakage, no middlemen, no human interference, full accountability, total transparency. Also, this has a great economic advantage. It converts our economy to a formal one. What do our youth need'?

Dhankar said that the youth are stakeholders in democracy more than anybody else.

'They will have to take India to a developed nation in 2047. But they were being held, held back, pulled back by three things including lack of equality before the law, corruption and there was a time when India was not a country generating hope and possibility,' the Vice President added.

However, the Vice President said now equality before the law is a true reality. Further, power corridors have been neutralised, and sanitised of these corrupt elements. According to him, there is an ecosystem in place where every boy and girl can realise and exploit potential, and talent, and achieve ambitions and aspirations.

Dhankar said that the digital tower will go a long way in changing the mindset of people, putting them in a different group, and making us fully alive to the technical changes, and the technological advancement that is gripping us.

/IANS