Karnataka - Gulbarga   

‘Strengthen spirit of tolerance’

AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING: President Pratibha Patil inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society in Gulbarga on Wednesday.

GULBARGA: President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday gave a clarion call to students to avail themselves of every opportunity to spread the message that they will not pursue a divisive agenda but will support the one for growth and prosperity.

Speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society and the Poojya Doddappa Appa College of Engineering here, Ms. Patil said students should take an oath that they would not be divided whatever be the provocation and instead would help the country retain its strength — diversity in unity.

Turning to a large number of students in the audience, the President remarked, “We need to understand that those who pursue a divisive agenda see every element of our diversity as an issue they can use for polarising us to their selfish ends. In such situations, as Indians, we must collectively stand up as one. The spirit of harmony and tolerance, which has been our hallmark, should be strengthened.”

She said that the image of India outside was that it was a country with strong democratic roots. She said that it maintained a tradition of mutual respect between different communities and this needed to be protected by concrete action.

Ms. Patil noted that the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society had come a long way with great commitment and devotion to academic values in its 50 years of service. She said, “Knowledge is the only power” and it should be the inspiration of this century.

The President said that India had emerged as a leader in the global knowledge economy and to maintain this position, educational institutions had a primary role to play. The education society should take up research on ways to improve productivity in agriculture and allied activities such as animal husbandry in the region.

It should also consider the option of creating a faculty of agriculture sciences to strengthen the local economy, she said.

Expressing concern over the mismatch between skills possessed by graduates and the talents required by the industry, she said, after inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations, that the low employability ratio among graduates required immediate attention.

Ms. Patil said that a recent study had revealed that not more than 39 per cent of engineering graduates in India were employable, which in practical terms meant that many engineering graduates faced difficulty in finding suitable employment and industries in getting suitable candidates.

Stressing the need for bridging this gap, the President said that educational institutions in the country should constantly upgrade their training methodologies and curriculum to suit the needs of the times.

Interaction among industry, business and academic institutions would be useful in framing a syllabus which was contemporary and relevant. Development of vocational and entrepreneurial skills was important for creating self-employment options, she said.

Ms. Patil said that the path of progress on which India was moving ahead could be expedited if every State, every district and every taluk was able to create a sustainable development paradigm. The President said that the youth and the students, who would be the architects of the India of tomorrow, should be equipped with the skills to grasp the opportunities created due to the advances made in science and technology and also the new fields of knowledge.

She said that the country had pinned great hopes in its youths and students to take it forward as one of the fastest growing and largest economies in the world. India’s young demographic profile gave an advantage in terms of manpower availability.

“Educated women provide much better guidance to their children. At the same time, women, who, through the tool of education, receive employment, are an example of empowered womanhood,” the President said.

Lauding the education society for playing an important role in converting the backward region into an education hub, she said that it was running a chain of 40 educational institutions offering various courses ranging from medicine, engineering to conventional degree courses.

The President said that the society should now diversify its activities and think of how it could help in improving human development index of the region. There was also a need for creating more employment opportunities in villages and rural areas.

President of the society Basavaraj Bhimalli welcomed the gathering.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur spoke. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly M. Mallikarjun Kharge, vice-president of the society B.G. Patil and joint secretary Shivanand Mankar were present. Society secretary Sharad Rampure proposed a vote of thanks.

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