Nishikant Khajuria
KATRA, Apr 19: Exuding confidence that India has the capacity to lead the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today predicted that the country with its youthful population will rule the 21st century, which is the era of knowledge.
“21st century will be led by those having power of knowledge and India with its 800 million youth below the age of 35 years, is going to script the success story for the country,” he said while addressing fifth Convocation of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, here today.
The convocation was attended by Governor N N Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh and others.
Maintaining that whenever there has been an era of knowledge, India has shown the way, the Prime Minister said that the nation was scaling new heights of progress and with power of youth, the country could achieve so much dreams to do something and not to become someone.
“You must realize your dreams. We have the best talent and we became the first country to succeed in reaching Mars in our first attempt and that too at a very low cost,” he said and added that the cost of Mars Mission was less than the amount spent on several Hollywood movies.
However, at the same time, the Prime Minister also asked the students not to get demoralized if their dreams were not always fulfilled. “Problems come in life but you must strive to move ahead. This university is a mini-India and when you move out of here be the ambassadors of the ‘Crown of India’,” he said.
Congratulating the students who were awarded degrees, the Prime Minister advised them not to consider this event as an end but a new beginning to face new challenges and move forward. “It will be possible only after you utilize the treasure of knowledge you have collected from here,” he said and asked the students to learn from their mistakes as they can achieve a lot by learning from themselves.
Modi reminded the students that they were helped by somebody to reach this place but from now on they will be on their own and have to take their own decisions. He told the students that the question of “what next” would play on their minds but the person who knows what lies ahead won’t need to depend on others.
“Recall what your parents did for you. They sacrificed their own happiness for yours. You may have thought of so much in your childhood but it may not have worked out. Forget that and instead, think of what you have achieved,” he said.
Highlighting the unique feature of SMVDU, which has been built with the contribution of millions of pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, many of whom are poor and come from far away places, Modi urged the students to take a pledge that they would do something for the poor, who had contributed to build this institution of learning.
In his 29 minute Convocation address in Hindi, which invited repeated applause from the students, Modi invoked former President A P J Abdul Kalam and Darshan Manjhi of Bihar for making a point that amount of facilities should not become an obstacle in the pursuit to excel in life.
“Kalam, who laid the foundation stone of this university and was known as the Missile Man, at one time used to sell newspapers. Darshan Manjhi of Bihar had no education or facilities but he had a dream and he constructed a road all by himself. If facilities were everything then the people who have all such facilities should have achieved everything in life but that is not the case,” he said.
The Prime Minister told the students that ‘Deekshant Samaroh’ (convocation ceremony) has a history of thousands of years as it has been mentioned in the `Tetriya Upnishada’. “This is not the time to get lessons but to give the society, what you have learnt as Deekshant means giving Diksha,” he explained.
While lauding girl students for outshining boys, the Prime Minister made a reference of Dipa Kamakar, who became the first Indian woman to qualify for Olympic Games. At the same time, in a lighter vein, he said that if the girls continue to clinch all meritorious awards, male students may demand reservation and quota of medals for them.
Earlier, Governor N N Vohra, who is the Chancellor of SMVDU and presided over the Convocation, threw light on the objectives of the establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. He said that this institution aims at achieving excellence in teaching and research along with nurturing sound moral, ethical and spiritual values among the students, crucial for the holistic development of youth and making them valuable members of the society.
The Governor mentioned that this University, in spite of being very young, finds the 80th place among the top 100 Universities in the country, based on a recent survey conducted by the Union Ministry of HRD. Referring to the over a decade long journey of the University, he observed that it has the distinction of attracting meritorious students from more than 20 States of the country, which is rather significant considering the location of the institution.
“In just over a decade of its existence, SMVDU has produced over 2700 students who have become successful Engineers, Architects, Business Managers, Teachers and Researchers, and can be found in organizations, institutions, MNCs and universities of repute in India and abroad,” he said and also informed that the University was offering scholarships and assistantships to meritorious students besides helping those students who are from economically weaker sections of the society.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, in her address, invoked the quote ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ and urged the resident students to take good care of their outstation colleagues so that they leave with sweet memories and become goodwill ambassadors of J&K in the rest of the country.
Describing J&K as a perfect blend of cultural and religious diversity, she said that our campuses of higher learning symbolize the secular fabric which is at the core of this great nation. “Let us make them (non-local students) feel at home. They are our guests. I am sure they will talk about our hospitality and good behaviour and make our children studying in the rest of the country part of their extended families,” she remarked.
Mehbooba Mufti expressed her delight over the brilliant performance of the girl students, who outnumbered boys by quite a distance and literally swept all gold medals on offer.
“I am happy that Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, from a very modest beginning in 2004, has made tremendous progress in a very short span of time. This university is an institution borne out of a constant urge to see faith as a resource, a trust repository of common people,” she said and added that the university’s success was a great tribute to the vision of her father during whose tenure as Chief Minister, SMVDU was established.
In her address, the Chief Minister also recalled the memories of her own student years when she used to visit Mata Vaishno Devi shrine along with her colleagues and wished to relive those happy days.
Prof Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, presented the Vice Chancellor’s Report and highlighting the past achievements and future plans of action, he gave details of the campus placements, publications brought out by the University, research projects being undertaken and the various workshops and conferences organized by this institution. He said that various initiatives have been taken to build this institution as a centre of excellence.
On the occasion, the Governor awarded 837 degrees including PhD, Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees while the Prime Minister gave away 20 Medals and 36 Certificates of Excellence and Distinction to meritorious students.
Vishakha Bargotra and Jahnvi Tiwari were awarded Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Medals of Best Girl Student for the batch 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Wani Gupta got three Medals’ Chancellor’s Gold Medal, University Silver Medals Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Medal while Jaya Kumari was awarded Chancellor’s Gold Medal and Vice-Chancellor’s Gold Medal. Beenish Hussain and Mitika Sharma were awarded two medals; Chancellor’s Gold Medal and University Silver Medal.
Naveen got University Silver Medal and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Medal.
Other recipients of medals, included; Richa Srivastava ( hancellor’s Gold Medal); Gautam Gupta, Amit Saini, Meenakshi Sharma Mansi Maheshwari, Varun Singh and Deeksha (University Medal); Ashish Kumar Singh ( Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Medal).
State Government Ministers, legislators, Vice Chancellors of various Universities, members of the Executive Council of the varsity, Chief Secretary, Members of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, senior civil and Police officers, Principal Secretary to the Governor, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, prominent personalities from various walks of life, Registrar, Deans, Directors, Heads of Departments, Faculty Members, students of the University and their parents were present on the occasion.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
