Ratan Agarwal, president of the WHEELS Global Foundation. / New India Abroad

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ability to take proactive measures as India’s leader is rooted in his understanding of the common people’s needs and concerns, according to Ratan Agarwal, president of the WHEELS Global Foundation.

"I think the country under Prime Minister Modi has been blessed with a leader who comes from the grassroots, from a life of an average person who had to struggle to rise up, and his proactive efforts to travel across the country, north to south, east to west, gave him that unique empathy, understanding of the average person," Agarwal said in an interview with New India Abroad.

Highlighting the Prime Minister's forward-thinking approach to development, Agarwal emphasized that his reforms extend beyond the immediate future to encompass the next five decades.

“That has shown up in his (Modi’s) fundamental reforms to create an infrastructure which has taken the country now on a path to become the developed economy. The country cannot be unified without transportation infrastructure and communications infrastructure. And on both fronts, the country is now leapfrogging every three, four, five years, “ he noted.

According to Agarwal, leading by example is the key attribute of Modi's effective leadership. “You can have many politicians who say something, but mean something else. But here you have a person who is leading by example and his leadership, his work ethics, and his delivery of performance from his own account are perpetuating in every minister, every ministry following and being forced to follow that.”

“Those are some of the hallmarks. I think there are many, many proof points of how fast the country has transformed. But those fundamentals are going to take the country into the next 30, 40, 50 years,” Agarwal said, expressing optimism for India under Modi’s leadership.

India’s transformation in the last decade

The IIT Bombay graduate, who immigrated to the United States in 1986, recounted how India and the perception of Indians has changed in the last decade.

“India was known through the lens of professionals, primarily technologists, engineering talent, But from that point onwards, now in the last 10,12 years, we have leapfrogged that not just the IT skills, but skills across service economy, skills across banking, medical services, accounting services, manufacturing outsourcing, R&D outsourcing, “ he said.

“India has now completely transformed from the technology prowess to services prowess. The industries which are driven by intellectual know-how are now the strengths of India. And that is a massive, massive transformation in terms of how outsiders view the country," he asserted.

Agarwal credited Modi's long-term vision for India's transformation, stating that while the country has always had technological talent, translating that talent into rapid growth and then articulating it on a global scale has been the fundamental change in the last decade.

Climate change solutions should be a priority for Modi government

While acknowledging the achievements of the government, Agarwal also highlighted action area for the first 100 days for the Modi government, in the event of their return to power on June.4

Citing the heatwave that has plagued India, resulting in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius in many areas, Agarwal stated, "I think one of the toughest things India is going to face now is the climate and environment. So one of the first things Modi has to undertake is put together a climate and environmental resilience policy.”

As president of the WHEELS Global Foundation, the social impact arm of the PanIIT Community, Agarwal has also pledged the support of IITians in his endeavors to formulate and implement policies that adequately address climate change.

Additionally, he advocated for privatization of multiple industries as the optimal strategy to unleash innate human potential. “We need to bring out more and more infrastructure industries in the privatization so that way the more assets can be unlocked, more investment can be possible.”

Role of the diaspora to contribute intellectually

When asked about the diaspora's potential impact on India's development, Agarwal responded by saying that the country is not short on capital but on ideas. Hence, he stressed that the diaspora's involvement is crucial in the areas of technology, innovation, and collaboration, as India aspires to become a developed nation by 2047.

“Technology and innovation are the two ingredients which cuts across the Indian diaspora because the diaspora has come out of the country for those technology and engineering talent. So that is where I think, diaspora can make a huge difference,” he said.

He mentioned that efforts are currently underway to bring together the best minds and identify areas where the PanIIT community can help India grow its exports while also substituting imports.

“That's a perfect example of how we can harness that massive intellectual capacity across our technology, across our medical, across other domains to contribute back intellectually.”

“What they (government) want is the solutions. What they want is innovation, technology, ideas, and those are the things that will take us to the developed economy more than anything else. And that is where the Indian diaspora has the best chance to contribute,” he concluded.