NRC-CAA protest: Stay away from politics, Kakodkar to students

Noted nuclear scientist and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Dr Anil Kakodkar on Saturday asked students to stay away from politics, though he added that issues vexing them will give rise to agitations.

He was speaking at a function in Thane in Maharashtra on the occasion of the release of a book on his life.

He was answering a query from the media on the CAA and NRC protests.

Over the past few days, several campuses across the country have seen strong students' protests over Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise.

"I feel students should not get into politics. However, if something is agitating them, then it is not that one has to keep quiet. All agitations are started by students and there is nothing unexpected about it," Dr Kakodkar said.

He advised students to prepare themselves for the competition they would face in the corporate world, adding that failure to do so would be akin to the defeat princely states endured in the 19th century when the East India Company began expanding its footprint in the sub-continent.

He said the education system in the country has to gear up to ensure students got the knowledge required to solve the problems facing the country, and emphasis must be on those coming from rural areas so that they can compete with their city counterparts.

"There are plenty of opportunities in the form of skilling and training, and if this is done, then sky is the limit. The education system must provide students a good atmosphere as their progress is based on it," he told the gathering.

He also paid tribute to Homi Bhabha, widely acclaimed as the principal architect of India's nuclear energy programme.

Kakodkar said Dr Bhabha thought up the 'three stage nuclear power programme', which sought the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in monazite sands of coastal regions of South India, when even five per cent of that technology had not been firmed up.