SME Times News Bureau | 18 Jan, 2021
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called
upon the youth to be at the forefront in scripting India’s growth story and
stressed the need of leveraging India’s demographic dividend across sectors.
He was releasing a biography in Tamil on former
President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam at Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
Observing that one of India’s biggest strengths
was its demographic dividend, Naidu called for fully leveraging it to
fast-track progress in different sectors—from agriculture to manufacturing and
ensure a sustained growth rate in the coming years.
Pointing out that about 65 per cent of the
country’s population is below 35 years and 50 per cent is below 25 years, he
said this is the time for the youth of the country to be at the forefront in
accelerating the progress.
Paying rich tributes to the former President, Naidu
urged the youth to take a leaf out of Dr. Kalam’s book and believe in
themselves. “They must aspire to become job-creators rather than job-seekers,”
he added.
Stressing the need to overhaul the education
system to make learning an enjoyable experience right from primary education,
the Vice President said that students must be encouraged to pose questions and
think critically.
“The New Education Policy is a great leap in this
regard. It does away with artificial segregation between curricular and
extra-curricular activities and aims at the holistic development of the child”,
he added.
Recalling Dr Kalam’s passion to ignite the young
minds, the Vice President said that he used to always visit schools and
interact with students.
“He inspired thousands of students through his
unforgettable words, magnetic presence and a warm smile”, he added.
He said the legacy of self-belief left by Dr
Kalam left has motivated the scientists in developing our own vaccine today.
“Even with medical equipment, having started
modestly, we are now exporting PPE kits, N95 masks and ventilators to other
countries”, the Vice President said and complimented the government and the
scientists for their untiring efforts in bringing out the vaccine for COVID-19.
He said the development of the vaccine in a short
span and at an affordable cost was a “remarkable achievement”.