Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday gave a clarion call to the top digital content creators of the country to start a 'Create on India Movement' to promote awareness about the country's products and rich cultural heritage to the world.
Several individuals were awarded for their outstanding contributions in various categories.
Pankhti Pandey received the 'Green Champion' award, Keerthika Govindasamy was recognised as the 'Best Storyteller', Maithili Thakur was named the 'Cultural Ambassador of the Year', Gaurav Chaudhary received the award for the 'Best Creator in Tech Category', and Kamiya Jani was honoured as the 'Favourite Travel Creator'.
Addressing the first National Creators Award function at the Bharat Mandapam in the national capital, PM Modi told the award-winners that they had creative power that could serve as a catalysing agent to accelerate the progress of the country by increasing awareness about the 'New India' that people want to know about.
The Prime Minister said India was now making rapid strides to cover lost ground in setting up semiconductor (chip) manufacturing facilities.
PM Modi mentioned the Rs 10,300 crore allocation for the IndiaAI Mission, that was approved by his Cabinet on Thursday, as an important step towards bolstering India's AI ecosystem.
"I am confident of the success of these ventures, because I have great faith in the talent of the youth of the country, my role is only to clear the hurdles to pave the way for you to go ahead," he remarked.
The Prime Minister urged the content creators to become the brand ambassadors of India and promote the 'vocal for local' campaign.
He exhorted them to use AI to translate their content into other languages such as German and Japanese to make the world aware of the innovations that were taking place in India and highlight the various brands and tourism hotspots that were of interest to people around the globe.
He said that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was discovering various ancient artefacts that were hundreds of years old. Content creators can use their talent to bring these findings to life spread greater awareness about them.
On the occasion of the International Women's Day, PM Modi also urged the content creators to spread the message of empowering women in the country.
He pointed out that boys and girls were not being treated equally in homes. For example, girls are questioned and scolded by their parents if they come home late whereas boys are not. There was a need to spread awareness on this subject to end this discrimination, he added.
The Prime Minister also said that there was a need to highlight the important role that woman were playing in the rural economy which stretched across agriculture, cattle rearing and weaving.
He pointed out that western experts were of the view that there are not enough women in the Indian workforce, but this view was incorrect.
PM Modi also exhorted the award winners to focus on spreading a positive message to school children so that they do not get stressed, especially during exam time.
Content that will make their studies more interesting and enable them to enjoy their experience will go a long way in achieving this, he added.
The National Creators Award that were presented by the Prime Minister is an effort to recognise excellence and impact across domains, including storytelling, social change advocacy, environmental sustainability, education, gaming, among others. The award is envisioned as a launchpad for using creativity to drive positive change.
Over 1.5 lakh nominations were received across 20 categories. About 10 lakh votes were cast for digital creators across various award categories, with 23 winners, including three international creators, being selected.
(Except for the headline, this story, from a syndicated feed, has not been edited by Odishatv.in staff)