Students should understand democratic ideals: President

President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said students need to understand the democratic ideals of the country.

Addressing students at the first Convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, the president said they are not only a valuable asset for their profession but also the intellectual wealth of the nation.

"You are products of an education system of a new nation born out of an old civilization. You must fully understand the democratic ideals of our country," Mukherjee told students at IIT Jodhpur.

He said students must embrace rights that are provided in our polity and accept their responsibilities towards the nation.

Earlier, addressing the convocation of Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, the president said students must understand that considerable resource, effort and sacrifice has gone into their education and there was a need to reverse the erosion of values in the society.

"The fact that in the India of today, our society is still bothered by moral unrest... it reminds us of the task ahead. We must reverse value erosion in society, and for that, we must instill in our youth the essential civilisational values of love for the motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, respect for women, honesty, self-restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline," he said, calling upon academic institutions to play a leading role in guiding young minds.

--Indo-Asia News Service

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