India's youth should help build resurgent India: President

Mukerjee stresses India needs quality educational institutes

Democracy not only gives rights but also entails responsibilities and India's youth have a vital role in building a resurgent India, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.

'India is a shining example of democratic polity and pluralistic society. Democracy not only gives rights but also entails responsibilities. Educated youth have to play a vital role in building a resurgent new India. The state and the community invest in the youth by providing facilities for education and self-development,' he said in his maiden address via video conferencing to students of Central University of Odisha from here.

'The education you receive will bring you the opportunity to make a difference. This is the time to prepare yourself to engage with our beautiful, complex, and sometimes difficult and noisy democracy,' he said while delivering the fourth foundation day lecture of the university.

The university was established in 2009 in Koraput which has a significant tribal population and it offers PG courses in languages, social sciences, basic sciences and development studies.

He said the need of the hour is that the Universities produced men and women of character and integrity.

'To build the country of our dreams, we need competent and committed individuals. Our universities must produce men and women of character and integrity. Without these values, it is impossible to achieve anything worthwhile in life. Along with academic proficiency our universities must lay great emphasis on character-building,' he said.

The President said high economic growth was an integral part of the country's development strategy.

'Achieving it will depend on our ability to mobilise the knowledge economy. It has to be built on the edifice of a sound higher education system,' he said.

He stressed that India needs quality educational institutes and rued that none of the Indian varsities figure in the top 200 institutions of the world.

'An international survey has ranked not a single Indian university amongst the top 200 universities in the world. Our ancient academic system had world class universities like Takhshila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri,' he said.