“Quality of education defines democracy and development. It fast-tracks our journey towards achieving the goal of making India a fully developed nation by 2047. There was a time when people used to call India a sleeping giant. India is no longer a sleeping giant. It is on the rise, the rise is unstoppable. The rise is continuous. The economic upsurge is exponential,” said Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice-President of India. Dhankhar was speaking at the inauguration of the Digital Tower of Ramdeobaba University (RBU) here on Sunday. Dr Sudesh Dhankhar; C P Radhakrishnan, Governor of Maharashtra; Banwarilal Purohit, former Governor of Punjab and former Administrator of Chandigarh, and Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Shri Ramdeobaba Sarvajanik Samiti (SRSS) that runs RBU; Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra; Satyanarayan Nuwal, Chairman of SRSS; Rajendra Purohit, General Secretary of SRSS; Dr S S Mantha, Chancellor of RBU; Dr Rajesh Pande, Vice-Chancellor of RBU, shared the dais on this occasion. 

 

 

At the outset, the Vice-President of India and Sudesh Dhankhar inaugurated the Digital Tower of RBU, and unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion. Satyanarayan Nuwal made the introductory remarks. Banwarilal Purohit presented an idol of Lord Ganesh to Dhankhar. The Vice-President pointed out that India’s economic rise had been exponential. According to global institutions, he informed the audience, India is a favourite destination for investment and opportunities. However, he rued, this was not the case previously. Though the youth of the country constituted important stakeholders in democracy and taking India forward towards the status of a developed nation by 2047, they were previously held back by three things. These three things, according to him, were that some people thought they were above law as they had privileged pedigree, extra advantages; no job, no contract, and no opportunity was available without corruption as power corridors were infested with corruption; and the country was not considered as generating hope and possibility.

 

“All this has changed now. Equality before law is a ground reality now. Middlemen have been removed permanently and power corridors have been neutralised and sanitised of corrupt elements. Besides, the world has come to recognise India as a land of hope and possibilities,” he said with enthusiasm. The world is acknowledging the resonance of India’s dominance on land, sky, and space. There is an ecosystem in place for every boy and girl to realise and exploit potential, talent, achieve ambitions, and fulfill aspirations, he said. Asserting that education was service and not commerce, Dhankhar appreciated the contribution of Banwarilal Purohit in the pious field of education. “Purohitji has dedicated his life to nurturing education. He has done it with a firm belief. His legacy is in every brick of this campus. I have no doubt that those taking the baton from him will also carry forward his deep sense of morality, propriety, and commitment that education is service, not commerce,” he said.

 

The Vice-President called it his ‘great good fortune’ that he had attended a function of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan-Delhi in which nine-volume English-Sanskrit dictionary was released. “There I got an idea of the personality of Banwarilalji Purohit. The lifelong journey of Banwarilal Purohitji is a beacon of hope, inspiration, and motivation that our civilisational ethos requires to give back to the society, and there can be no greater gift than giving education to the people,” he observed. On the newly inaugurated Digital Tower at RBU, Nagpur, he said that it would go a long way in changing the mindset of people, putting them in a different group, and making people fully alive to the technological advancements. He added, “This Digital Tower is a physical tower, which has everything required for blossoming talent of students. The presence of cutting-edge infrastructure speaks volumes about the university’s vision for the future deeply intertwined with technology, innovation, and pursuit of excellence in education.” Today, Dhankhar said, those looking at Government jobs only were losing a lot. For, he added, the opportunity basket was increasing and there were rapid strides in the realm of technology. He appealed to the students to participate energetically in scripting the growth story of India. Earlier, Satyanarayan Nuwal, Chairman of SRSS, highlighted the significance of the Digital Tower in enhancing the university’s educational infrastructure and its role in shaping the future of technology and innovation. He urged the students to realise that knowledge was prime for humans and keeping one’s character good was equally important. The programme concluded with national anthem. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice-President of India and ex-officio President of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), made an important announcement on Sunday. He announced that the ICWA would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ramdeobaba University (RBU), Nagpur, in three months. “The ICWA will sign the MoU with Ramdeobaba University so that global leaders come and interact with students here. This will enrich the capacity, potential, and talent of young boys and girls. If we are able to give them the right direction, India’s rise will be unstoppable. The rise will not be incremental, but exponential,” Dhankhar said. India is among a few countries to have taken global lead in technology. With a huge allocation of Rs 6,000 crore, India’s quantum mission will prove to be a game-changer in the world of computing. Green Hydrogen Mission with allocation of Rs 19,000 crore will create 8 lakh jobs by 2030. Dhankhar appealed to the youngsters to be the drivers of the engines to take India to the pinnacle of growth.

 

The Vice-President beseeched the youth to look at newer vistas like blue economy, oceanography, space economy, examine technological options to know how much they would be able to contribute in India’s growth. “Disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain are challenges as long as you do not rise to the occasion. The moment you rise to the occasion, these technologies get converted into opportunities. There is a tendency to flock to the coaching centers. They have become silos. Look around and you will find a lot of opportunities to make a shining career,” he said. Stating that Bharat had never believed in expansion, Dhankhar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi believed in finding a solution through dialogue and diplomacy.

 

The announcement of Dhankhar regarding MoU between ICWA and RBU is significant for Nagpur and Vidarbha region. Founded in 1943 by a group Indian intellectuals as a think tank, ICWA is a prestigious body devoted exclusively for the study of international affairs and foreign affairs. The ICWA has been declared as an institution of national importance.