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Modi exhorted the youth to take charge, asking them to go

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Press Trust of India
ahead and help the nation develop despite all the negative things. He termed the nation's youth as "mouse-charmers", saying the country was no longer considered as a snake-charmer. Picking up a glass of water, he said an optimist would say the glass is half full, while a pessimist would say it is half empty. "I have a third point of view. For me the glass is always full -- half with water and half with air. We can turn over the situation," he said. Expressing optimism that the 21th century belonged to India, going by the strength of knowledge and youth that the country has, he said stress should be on skill development, scaling up projects and completing them up speedily. "The whole world says 21st century is India's century. Some say it is Asia's century, while some also say it is China's century. I am confident that 21st century can be India's century as knowledge is supreme," he said. Citing Gujarat's mantra of success that can be emulated by the country for speedy progress, he said the focus should be on the manufacturing sector by making zero-defect products with good packaging. Modi said Gujarat gave primary attention to agriculture, recording over 10 per cent growth in the sector when the country was not even crossing 2.5 per cent growth. "For 20 years, the country has been setting target of 4 per cent for agriculture but it crumbles at 2.5 per cent," he said, adding that in spite of being a desert state Gujarat's water table was rising while that of the country was going down. Talking about the state's textile policy, he said, "We have focused from farm to fibre, fibre to fabric, fabric to fashion and fashion to forex." Touting the recent 'Vibrant Gujarat Summit' which accepted the global relevance of Gujarat with the presence of 121 nations there, Modi said, "When the world sees this, they infuse confidence that we can do."

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First Published: Feb 06 2013 | 7:45 PM IST

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