Vice President calls upon the Academic Community to Study the Phenomenon of Poverty and Deprivation

Text of Vice President’s speech at the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Sagar University in MP

The Vice President, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has called upon the academic community and the students to visit their nearby rural areas and study whether the funds allocated for the welfare of the weaker and deprived sections really reach and benefit the targeted groups. They must also ponder upon the reasons for the poor students dropping out from the schools and what needs to be done to ensure a life of dignity and self-respect to these sections. In his address, which was read in absentia at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Dr. Hari Singh Gour University at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, today, Shri Shekhawat said that unless we rid the vast population of 26 crore people of the morass of poverty and deprivation and provide them with the ‘Right to live with dignity’, we cannot have an all inclusive development of our country, and our vision to become a developed country will be seriously impaired.

Shri Shekhawat was due to visit Sagar today to inaugurate the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the University but could not reach due to bad weather. The following is the full text of the Vice President’s speech :-

“I am grateful to the Chancellor of Dr. Sir Hari Singh Gour University and the Hon’ble Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Balram Jakhar and the Vice Chancellor, Dr. D.P. Singh for inviting me to this grand Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and giving me this wonderful opportunity to be amidst you all.

2. At the outset, I would like to pay my respectful tribute to the sacred memory of Dr. Hari Singh Ji Gour, the eminent lawyer, philosopher and founder of this University who has been a constant source of inspiration for the university since its inception. Dr. Gour was indeed a noble human being and a great visionary, who not only visualized the setting up of a modern university for the promotion of education in the then backward region of Bundelkhand of the Central India, but also dedicated his entire earnings to this institution to translate his vision into reality.

3. A versatile personality, Dr. Hari Singh Gour, stands out as an excellent example of how an ordinary person by the sheer force of his sincerity, determination and diligence could rise to the heights of excellence and glory. Born in a humble family, he started his education from a Hindi School and his career began from the post of a Mate, which carried a salary of just ten rupees a month to earn his livelihood. Availing a loan, he proceeded to England for higher education and obtained degrees in Philosophy, Economics and Law. After returning from England, he worked as a Magistrate under the Government. After some time, he submitted his resignation and started practising law. As a lawyer, he earned repute not only in his home state and the country, but also in Lahore, Rangoon and Privy Council of London. He was a distinguished member of the Legislative Assembly and also of the Constituent Assembly. Impressed by his administrative acumen and intellectual accomplishments, he was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor of the premier Delhi University. He also guided the destiny of the Nagpur University as one of its most outstanding Vice Chancellors. Throughout his life, he worked tirelessly for bringing out social reforms and for the propagation and promotion of education.

4. Established by a person blessed with such a multifaceted personality, this university has completed 60 years of its glorious existence and I feel privileged to attend this diamond jubilee, the most momentous occasion in the history of the university.

5. A little while ago, detailed information was given with regard to the achievements and future development-plans of this University. It will be a fitting tribute to Late Dr. Hari Singh Ji on this historic occasion of Diamond Jubilee if all the students, teachers and professors of this University derive inspiration from his life and ideals and pledge to emulate him in shaping their personalities. Located in this serene and beautiful natural environment, this university is equipped with all modern facilities and therefore, it is expected of all the students present here to make the best use of the time and the opportunity available here to gain value based education and contribute towards the development of the country.

6. Whenever I visit any university or educational institution, I am charged with youthful energy and filled with renewed hope about India’s future. The image of the country’s bright future is reflected in today’s youth. As a result of their quest for excellence for knowledge and specialization, the country has achieved a place of distinction in the world from the professional perspective of the scientists, doctors, engineers and so on. Today, our youth have earned world-wide distinction in the field of IT, communications and medical sciences. A few days back, I came across a survey in a newspaper, revealing that 38 % Doctors and 36% Scientists are from Indian origin in the highly advanced countries like USA. In the management of great companies in the world like IBM, Microsoft and Intel, there are 28%, 36% and 17% employees from Indian origin, respectively. As you are aware, now a days, one can access any information from Google website within seconds. You would be happy to know that the programme in charge of this site is no other than Mr. Shashi Seth, a prodigious talent from the Indian origin. Indians have truly carved their niche in the top most levels of many big companies. They have earned their positions not through any nepotism but through their sheer talent in a fiercely competitive environment. IITs and IIMs are today counted as world’s finest educational institutions and their products have had global recognition. That is why the President of America, George W. Bush while warning his countrymen, pointed out, "Beware! Indians are coming".

7. We all are proud of our youth who have shown remarkable level of excellence in the foreign countries. But, we should seriously ponder as to why do our youth not get the requisite opportunity to prove their excellence in our country? We should seriously introspect this important question as to why large-scale brain drain occurs. I, myself, gave a deep thought on the subject and discussed the matter with many learned scholars. I strongly feel that even after so many years of Independence, due to lack of good governance, our youth do not get opportunity to excel, as a result in stead of having self satisfaction and pride in their own work, they invariably get frustration. For this, our policy makers and administrators should contemplate seriously as to how we could bring about radical changes in the system, so that the youth of this country get an opportunity to contribute towards the development of the country while being here.

8. It is true that our country has made spectacular achievements in the areas of industry, information technology, defence, space and atomic power over the years since Independence. Our economy continues to demonstrate strong fundamentals. The GDP growth is expected to reach 8 to 10 per cent. Our foreign exchange reserve is about 160 billion US Dollars. At the same time, there is also a stark reality that about 26 crore people of this country are living under poverty line. About 25 per cent men and 47 per cent women in the country are illiterate even today. Our country which was self-reliant in the production of food grains some time back is compelled to import food grains, pulses and oil seeds. The farmers commit suicide because of indebtedness. 9. We have acknowledged the primary education as a fundamental right, but about 30 per cent children are deprived of basic education even today. Out of the children who take admission in the class 1st, 53 per cent drop out before reaching in class 8th. Similarly, as large as 63 per cent drop out before reaching class 10th. Our country has a huge educational set-up with more than 300 universities and about 12 thousand colleges; but even then, about 8 per cent students are able to get the higher education, whereas in many developing countries, this is between 20 to 25 per cent.

10. This has been my firm opinion from the very beginning that we may secure high levels of GDP, to whatever extent we want; we may add to our foreign exchange reserve as many millions of U.S. dollar as we want and in the field of technical knowledge, industry and trade, we may attain as much dominance as we want, but unless we rid the vast population of 26 crore people of the morass of poverty and deprivation and provide them with the ‘Right to live with dignity’, we cannot have an all inclusive development of our country, and our vision to become a developed country will be seriously impaired.

11. Right from the beginning of my public life, this has been my ardent feeling that those developmental programmes become successful which are directly related to the poor and in whose implementation, they have full participation. I am happy that the Planning Commission is preparing the strategy of the 11th Five Year Plan based on this approach.

12. This is a happy coincidence that the Chancellor of your university and the Hon’ble Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Balram Jakhar had felt the pains and sufferings of the farmers and the villagers, having ploughed the fields with his own hands. I, myself, was born in a poor farmers family and did agriculture in a small field by ploughing and drawing water from the well. The founder of this university, Dr. Hari Singh Gour also took birth in a poor family and personally experienced poverty and deprivation. In this Diamond Jubilee year of this university, we, therefore, ought to introspect what should be the responsibility of the students towards the poor. 13. As you are aware, every citizen has the fundamental right to live with dignity as per the Constitution of India. To help people live with dignity, it is imperative that education, healthcare and other basic amenities are made available to the poor. Unfortunately, in this country these facilities are not available to the people living below poverty line and they are deprived of their fundamental right to live with dignity.

14. On a numerous occasions, I have publicly said that a vast segment of our population that is more than 26 crore living below poverty line, constitute the fifth pillar of our democracy. The four pillars of democracy – the Legislature, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Media, cannot harm one another, but if the fifth pillar gets organised and rise in revolt due to protracted poverty and distress, then not only the four pillars but also the very foundations of our democratic system can be jeopardised. After Independence, a number of plans and programmes have been formulated for the welfare of the poor, but still poverty continues to be a formidable social problem, as the benefits of these programmes could not fully reach the poor beneficiaries. The governmental efforts to fully benefit the poor could not so far be fully successful.

15. The contribution of the youth is very much required to make these programmes a resounding success. I would like to call upon the students of this university to visit the nearby villages and study the myriad problems of the rural areas in depth. You should see to it as to what proportion of benefits arising out of the resources allocated for the welfare of the poor actually reach them; whether adequate health care facilities are available to the poor; why the children of the poor drop out from school even after taking admission and so on. I am confident that if you go to the villages with a sense of commitment and prepare a report after conducting such a survey and send it to the Govt. through the university, then the Govt. will be bound to take your inputs seriously and initiate necessary action. I shall be happy to extend my support and cooperation to you in your innovative campaign. 16. In this context, I would like to share with you my own personal experience. From the childhood, I have had a deep attachment to education. When I became the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, at that time the present Minister of Human Resources Development, Shri Arjun Singh was also the then Minister of Human Resources Development who convened a meeting of Chief Ministers in Bhopal. When I went to the meeting, I was amazed to find that the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were only invited. When I enquired to know the reasons, I was told that only the Chief Ministers of the ‘Bimaru States’ were invited. At that time, my self pride was seriously hurt and I pledged to liberate Rajasthan from the ignominy of illiteracy and lack of education as soon as possible.

17. At that time, the literacy rate of Rajasthan was only 38 per cent. When I visited many villages of the State, I came to know that many children could not take admission in schools as they lacked resources to purchase books due to extreme poverty. Many students were deprived of education, as the school used to be far from the village. Immediately, I took the decision that in Rajasthan, the boys from the class I-V and the girls from the class I-VIII would be provided books free of cost. The State Govt. disbursed books free of cost incurring an expenditure of about 17 crore in a year. Primary schools were opened in a large scale so that no child was required to traverse a distance of more than 2 km from his village. Innovative programmes, such as Lok Jumbish, Siksha Karmi and Saraswati were introduced. To generate interest towards literacy and education, a number of awareness programmes were introduced in the villages. The children taking new admission into schools were greeted with fanfare by beating drums and putting ‘tilak’ on their foreheads. I personally visited villages and took part in these programmes. The Collector of each District was made the officer in-charge of these programmes. I am happy to share with you that due to proactive efforts, the literacy rate which was a meagre 38 per cent in the year 1991 increased phenomenally to an impressive 62.5 per cent in a decade. In the growth of literacy rate, this was the highest in the entire country.

18. Together with the programmes for literacy and education, we need to keep in mind as to what kinds of employment the poor children could get after completion of their education. It is in my knowledge that despite having higher education, the children belonging to poor family get low level of employment with marginal salary whereas the children belonging to affluent families with similar educational attainment get lucrative employment with handsome salary. In such a situation, it is but natural for our educated youth to have a strong sense of dissatisfaction. We need to establish such system in which poverty should not be a hindrance to one’s development and every one gets equal opportunities.

19. Today, the key concern is to put in place a system of good governance, as a result every one gets equal opportunity to move ahead to realise his innate potential. The teachers and the students of our educational institutions, I am sure, can play a meaningful role in building this new social order.

20. Today, we are constantly facing the problems of casteism, criminalization, corruption etc. The whole country is looking at the educational institutions and youth with a renewed hope and abiding optimism. I call upon them to come forward to solve these problems and provide their valuable contribution towards reforming the whole system. You may recollect that Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself. What better book can there be than the book of humanity.” If you visit the poor in the villages, understand their pain and suffering with a feeling of sensitivity and compassion and try to address them, that would be the greatest service to the humanity.

21. One of the objectives of education is to inculcate in students such virtues and values that will help a student to become a cultured human being on his own, contributing towards making the society a model one. It is possible only when students develop sublime virtues of dedication, hard work, courage, discipline, charity and forgiveness at the time of receiving education and build a strong character. Youth having sound character will surely contribute towards making a strong national character.

22. I would like to call upon the educational institutions and students of the entire country through the diamond jubilee celebrations of your university that today we should resolve to translate into reality the dream of making India a developed nation and continue to endeavor with total devotion, till we achieve this goal. For this, we need to not only remember the inspiring words of Swami Vivekananda, but also act according to it:

(Get up, awake and do not wait, till you achieve your goal.)

23. Dr. Sir Hari Singh Gour, the founder of this great university, had lived up to the words of Swami Vivekananda through his exemplary accomplishments and personality. Being the proud inheritors of his rich legacy, it is your pious duty not only to make your own personality ideal by following the path paved by him, but also contribute towards building a healthy, happy and prosperous India, bringing cheers to the face of every citizen of the country. Tears from every eye should be wiped out.

24. With these words, I would once again pay my respectful homage to Dr. Sir Hari Singh Gour and express my best wishes for the progress of the university and a bright career of all the students. Thank you.

********
(Release ID :18911)

Tweet