Happy Republic Day 2021: Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat

Happy Republic Day 2021! 

For many of us, our memories of this historic day are of watching the Republic Day parade on TV as contingents after contingents of smartly dressed soldiers marched in perfect unison. We remember only too well how our hearts would swell with pride at the rich display of India's diversity and might as floats and tableaux glided past.

This year, too, despite the unprecedented times we live in, we will still be able to do that — albeit, a slightly different Parade than we've been used to, owing to the safety restrictions of the pandemic.

This Republic Day will have many firsts. One of the key differences this year will be the absence of an international chief guest and the lack of a big crowd.

As more people are expected to watch the parade from home, the Ministry of Defense has even launched an app so that you can stream the whole event live on your smartphones.

However, one thing doesn't change: The Republic Day parade as a tribute to India's rich socio-cultural heritage and diversity. Or as Prime Minister Narendra Modi poignantly defines this: "Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat." 

On Sunday, PM Modi was speaking with artists and NCC cadets, who were readying to be a part of the upcoming Parade, when he stressed that India embodies the collective strength of its countrymen. 

Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat, he said, was an India with:

- many states but one nation

- many communities but one emotion 

- many languages but one expression

- many paths but one goal

- many customers but one value

- many colours but one tri-colour

In essence, Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat is a common destination — one, for which, we as a nation must come together and work together to reach. 

Jai Hind.

The Interview 

According to Siddarth Pai, Managing Partner at 3One4 Capital, the Union Budget 2021 should be a ‘statement of intent’ rather than just ‘announcements’ when it is tabled in the Parliament on February 1. 

He said, “I believe this year you will see a lot of progress in the disintermediation of agriculture, and public sector banks will receive capital support. There will be increased support for the manufacturing sector, and there will be announcements on electric mobility… You will also see increased support to the SMB sector.”  

Here are some key takeaways from the interview:

• SMBs looking forward to production-linked incentives 
• All eyes on the agricultural sector
• Education sector to receive a big boost
• The delivery of COVID-19 vaccine

Startup Spotlight

A Netflix-style hobby learning platform for kids

Serial entrepreneur Anshul Gupta has been in the startup ecosystem for more than a decade. In 2019, he launched his fourth venture (goFlatmates), which used AI and data to help people find flats and flatmates of their choice from curated listings by room providers. It was “going well” until early 2020 when COVID-19 happened. By May, he and his co-founder Arpit Mittal realised that COVID-19 is not a short-term thing and real estate tech was completely gone. So, they pivoted and started Yellow Class — an online platform offering free hobby classes for children between 3-12 years — in June 2020. Read more. 

Editor’s Pick: Supporting India’s defence sector with innovative tech solutions 

In India, aerospace and defence is one of the most important sectors of the country, accounting for almost 1.6 percent of the national GDP. Moreover, as the country strives to become aatmanirbhar, the government has been pushing innovators to come up with cutting-edge Made in India technology to empower the defence sector. And, playing a major role to fulfil this mission is the Indian startup ecosystem. 

In 2018, the Ministry of Defence earmarked Rs 500 crore to encourage MSMEs and startups through its Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative. On India’s 72nd Republic Day, we bring you a list of tech startups working to support and empower India’s defence efforts. Read more.

News & Updates

• The Indian government on Monday announced that Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu has been awarded India's fourth-highest civilian honour Padma Shri, ahead of the Republic Day. He has been awarded in the category of trade and industry. 

• PUBG's 'aatmanirbhar' alternative FAU-G is finally launching today on the occasion of India's 72nd Republic Day by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. The homegrown action-adventure game has been built by Bengaluru-based nCore Games, co-founded by Vishal Gondal.

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Twitter that the US-based tech giant is "providing more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution, and making it easier to find locally relevant information, including when and where to get the vaccine."

• Investment in upskilling has the potential to boost the global GDP by $6.5 trillion by 2030, including by $570 billion in India alone, a WEF report released during the ongoing online Davos Agenda Summit said.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Whenever you design a pedagogy, offline, online, synchronous, or asynchronous, the learning experience is extremely critical. If the input isn't proper, it will be very tough for you to expect a good output.”

— Vamsi Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vedantu

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