Pune (Maharashtra) [India], May 20 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday while advising the students to understand the importance of education and employ it in a positive manner, urged them to idealise former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam.
“Despite being a millionaire someone can become Osama bin Laden while despite being a newspaper vendor someone can become APJ Abdul Kalam. This is the basic difference between the two which depends on ethos,” said the minister while addressing the convocation of DY Patil Vidyapeeth in Pune.
“We have seen that after taking complex pilot training in the US, young people carried out an attack of 9/11. In India too, there’re young people involved in terrorist activities people who’re quite educated,” he added.
Citing an example of an article written by Thomas L. Friedman, Singh said, “In the article, people both in Infosys and Al Qaeda are highly educated, have mission and commitment. But the difference between the two is that one carries out 9/11 attacks while the other works for the society.”
He further called upon the youth of the country to ideate, innovate and indigenise new technologies in order to achieve ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The minister also described the youth as the biggest strength, catalyst and source of change for any country.
“The youth have the ability to face any challenge and convert it into an opportunity. They have the potential to discover new technologies and set up new companies & research establishments,” he said.
He stated that a vibrant start-up ecosystem has been created in the country due to the Government’s efforts, which can provide support to bio-technology, business administration and health professionals to realise their innovative dreams.
“Start-up India scheme is proving to be very effective for the young minds. We have also developed a culture of venture capital funding for start-ups, which is important for their hand-holding at the early stage. The number of business unicorns in the country has crossed 100. This is a proof of the success of our start-up based innovation ecosystem,” he said.
He was of the view that good education is an effective weapon to eradicate poverty and hunger and termed it as a responsibility of the students to put their education to good use and bring out a positive change in society.
He also urged the students to strike a balance between worldly and spiritual aspects of life. He called upon them to spread positive energy and think about the collective interest of society.
The Defence Minister emphasised on the need to imbibe the value system that is not detrimental to other needs and leads to peaceful coexistence. (ANI)