Source: Government of India
Posted On: 05 MAR 2025 4:29PM by PIB Delhi
I’m here for my dear students and let me tell you, dear students, those who are in the last benches, there are no back benchers here. Only they sit on back benches so, my greetings to those at the end also.
It is an absolute privilege and honour to impart convocation address at an institution that bears the name it does. The last century had not seen stalwarts of the nature, very few of them, like Chaudhary Devi Lal. When I look at them, they have served India and done their mission, time for us to resolve, We will do the same, we will serve the Nation. हम भारतीय हैं, भारतीयता हमारी पहचान है, राष्ट्रधर्म सर्वोपरि है।
We have to put nation first always. There can be no interest higher than national interest. Personal and political interests are insignificant.
A convocation address is not easy to deliver because students expect something really amazing. I will make an earnest effort. My first sermon to you is, I have throughout been a gold medalist, that was an obsession with me. I was always in fear what will happen if I don’t come at number one. Let me share it with you, कुछ नहीं होता, थोड़ा खेल ज्यादा खेल लेता, दोस्तों से बात कर लेता। Therefore do not be obsessed, allow your life to go like a river not like a canal built by parents.
ज़माना था बच्चा पैदा हुआ मा बाप ने तय कर दिया डॉक्टर बनेगा, इंजीनियर बनेगा, आईएएस बनेगा। If you look around, boys and girls, your basket of opportunities is ever-enlarging. It is there in blue economy, it is there in space economy. You are in Bharat at a time when no Nation in last decade has grown as fast and as large as Bharat. Big economic upsurge, phenomenal infrastructure growth, deep digitisation, technological penetration.
If I share some figures with you, you will be surprised. Per capita internet consumption of Bharat is more than that of China and USA taken together. If we go about our digital transactions, the digital transactions are four times the combined transactions of USA, UK, France, and Germany.
If you examine our economy, that was very fragile a decade ago. When I with the blessings of Chaudhary Devi Lal, had the occasion to enter Parliament as a Member of Parliament and became a Minister with his blessings and guidance, what was the economic situation? सोने की चिड़िया कहलाने वाले देश का सोना विदेश में गिरवी रखना पड़ा। It was placed to two banks of Switzerland, airlifted to sustain our credibility. Our foreign exchange reserves today are over 700 billion.
You are lucky to be living in times when Bharat is dotted with hope and possibility. There is an ecosystem in place of affirmative government policies, hand-holding policies that allow you full legroom to exploit your talent and potential, realise your ambitions and aspirations. Meritocracy prevails now. When that is the scenario, you must think big. Never be under stress, never be under tension. Fear of failure is the worst fear in life because it is a myth. There is nothing like failure, it is an attempt that has not succeeded. Some people were so pessimistic that Chandrayaan-2 was called by them as failure.
I was governor of the state of West Bengal. I was in the Science City, boys and girls of your age was with me, it was around 2 a.m. I remember September 2019. Chandrayaan-2 came very close to the lunar surface but could not touch it. It was, according to me, more than 90% success. And that is why Chandrayaan-3 became a success and therefore, failure is a myth. Failure gives you an opportunity to further improve. Many greatest accomplishments in history have never succeeded in the first attempt.
If you have boys and girls, a brilliant idea in your mind, don’t allow that idea to be parked in your mind. That will be the greatest injustice to you and to humanity. Experiment, think out of the box. Look at what has happened in this country, particularly last decade. Startups, unicorns, and of huge dimensions.
Therefore, never fear, never have tension, never have stress. Go for experimentation; go as per your attitude. You will have enough to contribute for the Nation. If International Monetary Fund called India as a favorite global destination of investment and opportunity, boys and girls, it was not for government jobs. It was on account of the opportunities and those opportunities today are available at sea surface, deep sea, ground, deep ground, sky and space. You only have to think big. Take a leap.
Convocation is not an end of education because education is always about learning. Let me quote a pre Socrates era, I am quoting Heraclitus. Heraclitus, a great philosopher, gave us one aspect in life which is often quoted. ‘The only constant in life is the change,’ and he buttressed it by an illustration. ‘The same person cannot be in the same river twice, because neither the river is the same, nor the person is the same.’
So change has to be there, and right now the change is epochal, change is much beyond any hurricane. Disruptive technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Machine Learning, and every moment we are having paradigm shift. Every moment is a change that brings huge challenges and every challenge has to be converted into an opportunity that is to be done by you, boys and girls.
When you will step into the new building of Parliament, you will come to know that, in the face of COVID, the greatest pandemic we faced in the century, in less than 30 months the building came up, the entire infrastructure came up. And our 5,000 years of civilizational reflection is there in Parliament.
Boys and girls, no Nation in the world has grown as fast with such a big leap as Bharat in last decade. This has given one situation, people have tasted development, they have seen development. They are there, for aspirational mode and if people are in aspirational mode, there can be restive situation, there can be restlessness, a problem but that problem has to be addressed by each and every individual.
Let me give you certain suggestions. Dear boys and girls, always put Civic Duties, Fundamental Duties over rights. Always nurture your family, your teachers, your elders, your neighborhood, because that is our civilizational culture. Believe in the environment, because that is something we are concerned. Alarmingly, a worrisome scenario is there. We do not have another earth to live in. The situation is cliff hanging. We are virtually collapsing. We have to find a way out.
I will conclude by leaving a thought with you. We all need to promote economic nationalism. Gandhi Ji gave us the slogan Swadesi. The Prime Minister has given, ‘Be Vocal for Local.’ If we do not have avoidable imports, we’ll be saving more than hundreds of billions of dollars in our foreign kitty. That will give work to our people. Entrepreneurship will blossom. You can do it. In this room, if you’ll find out our clothing, you’ll come to know that they are stitched outside the country. Better quality is available here so, national interest, national economic interest can never be compromised on fiscal gains.
Always take pride in the person, in whose name, in whose memory the institutions are there. People have glorified human beings very rarely, you can get Padma Bhushan, you can get Bharat Ratna, you can get all awards but where do you get title of Rashtrapita? Where do you get title of Sardar? Where do you get title of ‘Tau? Tau is here, Tau oversees us.
I have been mentored in politics by Tau. What I learned from him is keep on working for development of the society and never ignore rural landscape and the farmers.
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