Vice President urges world community to take strong action against countries promoting terrorism

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged the world community to come together to take strong action against the countries, which are aiding and abetting terrorism.

Addressing the 32nd Annual Convocation of Goa University here, the Vice President said that terrorism is the enemy of humanity and denounced the actions of one of our neighbours in promoting cross-border terrorism.

While reiterating that India wanted peaceful coexistence with all its neighbours, the Vice President referred to the decision of global watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to keep a neighbouring country in the grey list and said that it was a grim reminder to the global community to exert greater pressure and hold that country to account on terrorism.

Naidu said that there is no place for violence in a democracy and asked the youths to shun negativism and join the forces of growth.

Stating that dissent was an essential feature of democracy, the Vice President, however, cautioned that nobody has a right to speak against the nation.

Naidu expressed happiness that in recent times people are talking about the importance of the Constitution. Calling it a positive sign, he said that every citizen must follow the Constitution in letter and spirit and adopt constitutional methods to achieve his or her goals.

Stating that rights and responsibilities go together, he also reminded the people the need to perform their duties.

Asking youth to be at the forefront of making India stronger the Vice President advised them to select and elect leaders on the basis of 4 Cs--Good Conduct, Character, Capacity and Calibre and not on the basis of other 4Cs--Caste, Community, Cash and Criminality.

The Vice President said that Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG) have opened up innumerable opportunities and our universities should educate and skill Indian youth to meet these 21st century requirements.

Stating that India was known as Vishwa Guru in ancient times, Shri Naidu exhorted Indian universities to again strive to make India knowledge hub of the world.

He also stressed the need for a multidisciplinary approach to research and development (R & D) and said that working in silos will not yield the desired results.

Stating that this convocation was not the end of your education, Naidu told the graduating students that learning is a life-long process and they should keep learning new things in life.

Maintaining that no nation can progress until its women are educated, the Vice President expressed happiness over the fact that out of 30,000 students enrolled in the Goa University, 60 per cent are women. Every woman should be given opportunities on par with that of men, he stressed.

He cited the examples great women scholars of ancient India such as Gargi and Maitreyi and said that respect for women is at the core of Indian culture.

He expressed happiness that India is now the fifth largest economy of the world, and "we are on the path to becoming five trillion-dollar economy." However, calling for a sustainable path for development, the Vice President appealed to everyone to respect and live in harmony with nature.

Climate change and global warming are two of the biggest challenges the world is facing today, he said and asked all nations have to step up their efforts to protect the environment and reduce carbon footprint.