K’taka IT Minister slams Piyush Goyal over his 'Silicon Valley' remarks

Bengaluru, Sep 18 (IANS) Karnataka Minister for IT & BT, RDPR Priyank Kharge stated on Wednesday that Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is welcome to build as many Bengalurus as he wants to build in the country.

He was speaking to the media in Bengaluru on the sidelines of the Space Expo and answering a question about Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s proposal to build another Silicon Valley in the country on the lines of Bengaluru.

Priyank Kharge further stated: “Where does he (Piyush Goyal) want to do it? I have told you that we don’t like to be called Silicon Valley. We are the Bengaluru ecosystem, where the world’s fourth-largest cluster is located. We did not get to be here by imitating Silicon Valley. We have our own policies, we have our own talent and a system that we have built over the last 40 years.”

“What took 70 years for Silicon Valley to build, we took 35 years. Piyush Goel is welcome to build as many Bengalurus as he wants to build. It seems the Gujarat model does not seem to be working, Bengaluru model will work for him,” Priyank Kharge stated.

Talking about space sector-specific programmes, he stated: “The ecosystem that Karnataka has fostered and policies we have fostered and India’s space race is being anchored here. We have grid collaborators from across the country and globe, creating an ecosystem for participation, knowledge sharing, and market access programmes. I think ‘The Bengaluru Space Expo’ is a great event to see where the Indian space programmes are headed, where the private sector is headed in the space sector and most importantly this will be the place where the future of space is shaped for the country and the world.”

“This is the 8th edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo, the number of exhibitors, start-ups, and SMEs that have come here is phenomenal in numbers. I don’t think you can see the number of people interested in space anywhere in the country,” Kharge stated.

“We are talking to a lot of startups in the space sector. We are also talking to SMEs, MSMEs and Industry leaders and policy advocates like CII and help us understand the ecosystem better. We are working towards bringing our own state space policy to encourage incubation and innovations for start-ups.

“We are trying to create space corridors across cities in the world for market access programmes, and incubation facilities. It is in the process and in the next couple of months the first draft should be out for people to evaluate,” Kharge maintained.

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