Lokesh seeks Pan-IIT expertise to make Andhra Pradesh India's top state
Andhra Pradesh Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh has said the state government's aim is to make Andhra Pradesh the leading state in the country, and sought the cooperation of the Pan-IIT community in achieving that goal.
The Minister, along with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, took part in a dinner meeting with the Pan-IIT Conference team in Vijayawada on Friday (October 2, 2026).
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Lokesh said the Chief Minister's experience was well known. Drawing a comparison with software, he said, "Operating systems keep improving with every new version. Similarly, our Chief Minister is also becoming better with every version. This is his fourth version."
He noted that 50 per cent of the MLAs in the present government were first-time legislators, and that 17 of the 25 ministers were holding ministerial positions for the first time. "I am now a senior minister. All of us are working with determination and commitment for the development of the State," he said.
The Minister sought the support, ideas and expertise of the Pan-IIT community to help Andhra Pradesh emerge as the number one state in the country. He said the state was creating opportunities across emerging sectors and aimed to lead India's transformation into a developed nation. The government, he added, was keen to work with industry, academia and technology experts, and was willing to learn from their experience.
Mr. Lokesh said the state was witnessing developments across a wide range of sectors, from horticulture and space technology to drones, quantum technology and data centres. Referring to the recently launched Indian School of Agriculture and Horticulture Mission, he said the public and private sectors were expected to invest nearly $10 billion under the initiative, with the objective of taking India to the top globally in horticulture.
He said Andhra Pradesh could play a leading role in the country's development because of its talent, intellectual strength, determination and positive leadership, and expressed the view that India could become a developed nation within a decade.
The Minister also highlighted the government's plans for Amaravati, saying the capital city was being developed as a world-class city. He invited the Pan-IIT delegates to visit Amaravati and witness the ongoing development. The government wanted Amaravati to become a city that would make the country proud and attract global attention, he said.
Describing the partnership between the Centre and the State as the "Naidu ji-Modi ji" combination, he said the government was working at a rapid pace. The state's goal of becoming number one, he said, could not be achieved by the government alone and required the cooperation of experts, professionals, industry and academic institutions.
Pan-IIT Chairman Prabhat Singh, members of Pan-IIT, Directors of IITs from across the country, alumni and industrialists attended the meeting.
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of premier publicly funded technical institutions, and Pan-IIT is a network of their alumni whose conferences bring together former students, academics and industry representatives. Andhra Pradesh has been developing Amaravati, near Vijayawada, as its capital city. The investment figures cited by the Minister are the government's projections for the horticulture initiative.
