Prez asks varsities to help instill moral values in youth

President Pranab Mukherjee today called on universities to start a sustained campaign that can help the country face moral challenges and instill values like respect for women and elderly in the youth.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone of Atal Behari Vajpayee Hindi University here, he said that rise in crimes against women and children is a cause for deep concern and it not only calls for effective measures for their safety and security, but also requires us to urgently introspect and find ways to arrest the erosion of values in our society.
He called on universities to take the lead in starting a sustained programme for meeting the contemporary moral challenges and ensuring that "our civilisational values of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, respect for women and elderly, discipline and self-restraint in conduct, and responsibility in action are inculcated fully in the young minds".

Speaking in Hindi, Mukherjee expressed concern over the standard of higher education in the country.
He said he was pained to know that in a recent survey conducted to rate top 200 universities in the world, not even a single Indian institution figured.
He said there were more than 650 degree awarding institutions in the country but still there was need for more good institutions.

Addressing the students and academics, he also stressed on the need for focusing on innovation and research.
He said the decade 2010-20 has been declared a decade of innovation and asked universities to play a leading role in this direction.

Talking about the establishment of the Atal Behari Hindi University, Mukherjee said that language has an important role between the government and people.
He said that success of social welfare and development programmes depends on language so Hindi and other regional languages should be encouraged.
"Hindi has always played an important role in the national integration. It is a symbol of India's social and cultural unity," he said.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj lamented the fact that though as a language Hindi is capable of expressing any idea, thought or feeling, yet the tendency to add more and more English words was rising.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said a majority of children of the state studied in Hindi medium schools and had difficulty at higher levels of education as English becomes the prevalent medium of learning.
He said the newly established university would give opportunity to students to pursue higher learning in Hindi.