Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Sunday said an ecosystem was now in place in the country that replaced nepotism and favouritism with meritocracy and facilitated young minds to realise dreams and aspirations.
During an interaction with students on the theme ‘Viksit Bharat @ 2047’ at Pondicherry University of which he is ex-officio Chancellor, the Vice President said: “Now autocracy of corruption is gone and meritocracy prevails. We have bid goodbye to favouritism, patronage, nepotism and corruption. Today our power corridors have been fully sanitised, liaison agents are no more visible”.
He added that there was now, an ecosystem in place “where every young mind has opportunities to exploit his or her potential, unleash talent and energy, realise dreams and aspirations”, a PIB release said.
Extending the 75th Republic Day greetings to the student fraternity, the Vice President urged students to believe in the nation as other (nations) were doing, and to adopt a zero-tolerance for corruption. “We must have transparency; we must have accountability in governance....Now, you know what you want? You want merit alone should be rewarded”.
Mr. Dhankhar said the youth, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the “Amrit generation”, were the architects of Bharat, the real stakeholders. He expressed optimism that this generation would see the nation in 2047 at a peak when it regains all its past glory.
The Vice President also hailed “women power” that has seen them as pilots of commercial airlines and fighter pilots, was in full play on ‘Kartavya Path’ on Republic Day and shone through during the success of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission.
With the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in both the Houses, the provision of horizontal and vertical reservation could see women account for a third of Lok Sabha and state legislatures, he said.
Alluding to the equality before law as a great benefit that had emerged in last few years, Mr. Dhankhar said this principle defined the essence of democracy. “We can’t visualise democracy without there being equality before law and equal opportunities”.
Earlier, the Vice President, accompanied by Sudesh Dhankhar, second lady of India, on his maiden visit was received at the Puducherry airport by Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and other dignitaries.
Mr. Dhankhar also inspected a guard of honour on arrival.
Media barred
A large contingent of media persons who had been issued security passes and invites to cover the first visit of Mr. Dhankar to Pondicherry University, was denied entry into the venue. The media was told that the protocol for the event did not include entry for press, in spite of the information department collecting the names of media persons to cover the event in advance, and the police issuing security passes.
