“Students should strive to eradicate corruption, because it has been a stumbling block hampering the country’s onward march. It is in your hands to eradicate corruption to transform society to enable it attain socio-economic development,” E. Balagurusamy, Former Member, Union Public Service Commission, said here recently.
Delivering the graduation day address of Nehru Arts and Science College, he said that though the Central Government had launched many welfare schemes for the uplift of the downtrodden, most of these failed to reach the target group because of rampant corruption. Though the country was bestowed with a vast pool of skilled manpower and natural resources, the people of the country were not happy. Graduates accounted only for 10 per cent of the country’s population, while the number of illiterates stood at 40 crore. More than 80 crore people lived below the poverty line. The country was besieged by evils like social inequalities and casteism.
“There is no dearth of IT professionals, mathematicians and science scholars in our country. But we have not achieved anything worth the name. Therefore, the youth of today should be bold enough to take on the challenges faced by the country,” Mr. Balagurusamy said.
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Though education could be used to gain money, it alone could not ensure happiness. Happiness could be attained only by applying one’s knowledge for the welfare of society. P. Krishna Das, Managing Trustee, and P. Krishnakumar, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of Nehru Group of Institutions, were present. More than 600 candidates received degrees and 36 university rank holders were refunded their tuition fee.