In a bid to develop culture of innovations in the country, technology guru Sam Pitroda on Sunday said that he has written to all the chief ministers urging them to set up state level innovation councils. Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister on public information, infrastructure and innovations, also said that the councils should be set up on the lines of the National Innovation Council (NIC).

Speaking on sidelines of a lecture series organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Vadodra on Sunday, he underlined the need for innovations, saying that there was an "investment target of 20 billion USD to build public information infrastructure across the country. "Union ministries have also been requested to set up departmental innovative councils," he told PTI.

The former chairman of the National Knowledge Commission also said that even though India was facing the challenges of 21st Century, it still had a mindset of the 19th century. "We need innovations in all the aspects of life, namely health, energy, governance, infrastructure, etc. There is no other way to face tomorrow," he said. "With the advent of the information revolution and the internet, the job of a teacher in providing content has become redundant and there is a huge teacher-student disconnect today," he added.

Pitroda said that connecting educational institutions with the industries was one way to move towards innovating things. He, however, lamented the lack of innovation by the industrial clusters including those in Rajkot, Surat and Agra.