NEP focuses on skill enhancement, says Governor

The new education policy introduced by the Narendra Modi-led government focuses on enhancing the skills of students so that the country could emerge stronger and self-reliant, said Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot. He was speaking at the 31^st and 32^nd convocation of Kuvempu University on the university campus on Thursday.

The NEP was the first in the 21^st century. It had been drafted with a focus on inculcating moral values. Sports activities had been given importance in the policy. “We are not happy with our achievement in international sports events. India should win more medals like many other countries in Olympics. In the last Olympics held at Tokyo, our sportsmen won seven medals and in the Paralympics the country won 19 medals. They all made India proud”, he said.

Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director of Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, in her convocation address, said that the planet earth was under threat as the population had been witnessing natural calamities caused due to climate change. “There is an urgent need to conserve our oceans, and marine resources, prevent biodiversity loss, reverse desertification and stop soil erosion”, she said.

Despite India being an exporter of grains, she said, the country had around 200 million undernourished people. Obesity and related disorders had resulted in India becoming the global leader in cardiovascular diseases.

Ms. Singh opined that millets could be the next major revolutionary sustainable foods that could be adopted worldover. “Our rich heritage and legacy of traditional knowledge has given several leads to use food and diet to control or prevent diseases. If we can scientifically validate the traditional knowledge and beliefs, there is scope for export markets for food products to addres life style related diseases”, she said.

The Governor conferred honorary doctoral degree on former Chairman of Legislative Council D.H.Shankarmurthy, Geetha Narayanan, B.M.Krishna, Mahantesh G.Kivadasannavar, B.S.Aravind and T.V.Kattimani.

Vice-Chancellor B.P.Veerabhadrappa, Registrar Anuradha G. and others were present. The guests presented PhD certificates, gold medals to the students.