The Hindu : dated October 10, 1952: Building a New India

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Thursday, Oct 10, 2002

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dated October 10, 1952: Building a New India

Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru told a gathering of students in Madras, on October 8, that all of them were partners in the tremendous adventure of building up a New India. He warned them against the tendency to lead a soft life and reminded them "life is a continuous struggle. We have to be active, we have to do things and we have to build up a New India."

The Prime Minister emphasised that every one of them should do manual labour to some extent and pointed out that there was nothing degrading in this idea. He firmly believed that a student's intellectual training should be tied up with some kind of service to the people by working with the people. Mr. Nehru said: "I think you will learn more about the economics of India by living for some time in an Indian village, trying to do things by yourself there than by reading books." He asked the students to develop quality in themselves. At the same time he uttered a warning against the creation of any "quality caste" and added: "We have to produce quality in the people of India as a whole.." Over 20,000 college students, including a record gathering of girl students, listened to the Prime Minister with rapt attention. The meeting was held on the football grounds behind the Presidency College, Madras.

Prime Minister Nehru attended a function organised by the Guild of Service (Seva Samajam), Madras. Addressing the gathering, he paid rich tributes to the "impressive work" done by various social service organisations. "I think it really does an enormous amount of good to a person if he or she does social service. You are doing some good to another person, but doing far more good to yourself by doing it. You must go to the villages in the spirit of learning something in the process of helping others.."

At the Madras Institute of Technology, Mr. Nehru was received by Mr. Kasturi Srinivasan, Vice President of the Institute and taken round the four faculties and workshops, on October 9. Addressing the students, he said that in the ultimate analysis, manpower was the real wealth of a country. While always trying to have the latest technological improvements, we must remember that, in applying them to conditions in India, the most important thing was the human factor and its employment to the best advantage.

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dated October 10, 1952: Building a New India

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