Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that capacity building of the mind, alongside skills, is equally essential for India to remain globally relevant. He said this while addressing a roundtable on capacity building in New Delhi. Dr Singh said that capacity building must evolve from an individual, skill-based approach into a collective and whole-of-society effort to respond effectively to the rapidly changing technological and global environment.

 

The Minister also highlighted the growing role of continuous learning platforms in capacity building. He informed that the iGOT platform has more than 40 lakh registered individuals, providing a continuous learning platform for government officials. 

 

Dr Singh also called for creating a stronger culture of philanthropy for research in India. He said that while philanthropy is already undertaken for several social and humanitarian causes, research has not traditionally received the same attention. He said that India needs larger investments from all sources to build the required ecosystem.

 

The Minister also highlighted the importance of international collaboration in capacity building and knowledge exchange. Referring to the growing engagement of countries in the Global South, he expressed confidence that such initiatives could bring more countries together and develop a wider network for sharing knowledge, experience and capacity-building practices.