Anand (Gujarat) [India], June 12 (ANI): Union Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that India can never be self-reliant without accelerating rural development.
Shah addressed the 41st Annual Convocation of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) on the third day of his Gujarat visit today.
In his address, the Union Home and Cooperation Minister said, “Today these students, who have been conferred their degrees, will be working to realize the dream of Mahatma Gandhi. Without accelerating rural development, making rural development a contributor to country’s economy and taking every person living in the village towards prosperity through rural development, India can never be self-reliant.”
“Today, my request to the students who have been conferred degrees is that you should keep working for rural development in the country throughout your life because no one can stop you from contributing. Today, by giving Guru Dakshina to IRMA and taking a vow that throughout your life, your vision will be related to rural development and will be engaged in enriching the poor in villages,” he said.
Shah said that rural development is not theoretical, it happens only when people devoted to it committedly work for villages. He said that if rural development is to be done in modern times, then its curriculum has to be suited to the times, it has to be formalized and according to the needs of today’s times, rural development will have to be converted and implemented on the ground. “I believe that IRMA has taken it to the ground level in this holy land of Sardar Patel and Tribhuvan Bhai.”
The Union Home Minister said that today 251 youth have been conferred degrees from here. He said that the person who moves from ‘Self’ to ‘ For Others’ and thinks of others in place of himself is the only one who has wisdom.
“Today, those who have been conferred degrees will be leaving after completing their education, but they must think of those for whom good life, education, and two meals a day is a dream. You think in this way, you will experience self-satisfaction. You will not get satisfaction even after earning crores of Rupees, but after making a person self-sufficient in your life, you will get self-satisfaction,” he said.
Shah added, “Salvation comes only when there is contentment in life and satisfaction comes from working for others”.
The Union Cooperation Minister remembered Dr Verghese Kurien and said he established this institute to promote sustainable, situation-friendly, equitable and equitable socio-economic development among the rural people and this objective should always be before the graduating students. “Wherever you get something in life, you should also aim to give it back.” (ANI)