Students from abroad must come to India to study: Modi

Srinagar, Feb 3 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that his dream was to see students from foreign countries coming to India for higher studies.

Answering a question on educational standards in India, Modi said: "My dream is that instead of our students going to other countries for higher studies, students from all over the world must come here to study."

During his visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, Modi answered queries from students across the country after connecting with them digitally.

Over one lakh students from various sstates were digitally connected with Modi while over 2.5 crore others were able to connect with this interaction through social media.

On the digital revolution, Modi said: "Humankind has advanced over centuries but due to innovation and technological intervention during the last 40 years, we have taken a quantum jump.

"Digital revolution has changed our lives drastically. Time will come when perhaps coaching and classrooms could also become obsolete."

Can India become a poverty free country?

"If India decides to rid itself of poverty, there is no power that can keep us poor," he said.

"We are the fastest growing economy. Empowerment of the middle class is taking place at a fast pace and this is helping many amongst us to get rid of poverty.

"In 2014, rural sanitation was 35 per cent and today it is 98 per cent. We must take a firm resolve to get rid of poverty and it can only happen by empowerment of the poor."

On linking education and tourism in Odisha, he said: "The first requirement of tourism is to take pride in our tourist places.

"Unless we pride ourselves on our tourist potential, we cannot fully explore its potential. During my visit to the US, I was shown a 400-year-old landmark in Pennsylvania. In our country, we can boast of thousands of years old landmarks.

"Homestay is popular throughout the world. We need to promote this in a big way to help our tourism."