Invoke Gandhi in you to serve career, nation together: Smriti Irani to VIT students

Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday called on the students to invoke Mahatma Gandhi in order to excel in their career and to serve the country at the same time.

"Gandhiji believed that the soul of our India lies in villages. Today those passing out need to possibly integrate. When you see business or professional opportunities and if you invoke Gandhi in you, you will truly find that the combination of both can serve your career and nation together," she said at the annual convocation of the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) here.

Underlining that passing out from institutions does not mean the end of attaining knowledge, Irani hoped that the VIT students would play a key role in building a 'new India'.

"There are many amongst you who are possibly relieved that your educational journey has come to a path... But if you seek knowledge for the rest of your life, you are sure to attain excellence. I am hoping that students of VIT can add substantially to building of New India as envisaged by our Prime Minister as we celebrate 75 years of independence," the minister said.

Irani, who served as the Human Resource Development Minister during the first term of the Narendra Modi government, expressed happiness over the increase in research papers from 2006 to 2016.

"A total of 331 research papers were published in the country in 2006. But I am happy to share that the number went up to 3,301 in 2016. This was possible because institutes like VIT, IITs and IIMs had made a concerted effort to ensure we can come out with more and more publications," she said.

She urged the students to publish research papers as VIT alumni and explore the possibility of incubating start-ups within their institutions.