Stay away from drugs, all forms of substance abuse: VP Radhakrishnan to students
Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Sunday, August 16, urged students to stay away from drugs and all forms of substance abuse, calling on them to choose "discipline over distraction, purpose over temptation, and excellence over easy shortcuts."
Expressing deep anguish over the recent murder of a student in Tamil Nadu for sharing information regarding drug trafficking, the Vice President said the tragic incident felt like losing a member of his own family.
"I urge all of you (students) to always stay away from the menace of drugs and all forms of substances that abuse. We should not get controlled by an external force rather our mind should get controlled by ourselves... We must say no to drugs," he said.
Radhakrishnan was addressing the 22nd convocation at SRM Institute of Science and Technology near Chennai.
During his address, he highlighted the expansion of higher education in the country since 2014, noting that 16 IIITs, eight Central Universities, eight IIMs, seven IITs, two IISERs, one NIT and 12 AIIMS have been established during this period.
"Bharat today has more than 1,425 universities, 54,000 colleges and 16,850 standalone institutions," he said.
He also pointed to a substantial rise in women's enrolment in higher education, from 1.57 crore in 2014-15 to 2.24 crore in 2023-24 an increase of 42.2 per cent calling the growing number of women receiving degrees and medals at convocation ceremonies a welcome development.
Recalling India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vice President said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country provided coronavirus vaccines to more than 100 countries, and that India did not seek to commercialise humanitarian assistance.
He also said the prime minister had told him that AIIMS facilities should be available across the country so that medical facilities and medical education could reach people nationwide.
Radhakrishnan said the greatest strength of the country is its people, particularly its youth. Sharing his message with the graduating students, he said, "Do not merely prepare yourself for the future, prepare yourself to shape the future."
Calling upon graduates to make "Nation First Rashtra Pratham" their guiding principle, he said their knowledge, innovation and hard work should contribute to the progress, security and prosperity of Bharat. He urged them to uphold constitutional values, respect diversity, strengthen national unity and place the larger national interest above narrow self-interest.
(Inputs from PTI)