CHENNAI: Dismissing the impact of America potentially clamping down on H1B visas for Indian immigrants, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said it would be a good thing for India as a country and a blow for America. “If Trump is amending the H-1B visas then America is going to become poorer; India will only benefit from such a move. We will get back lost talent,” he told students and educationists after inaugurating The New Indian Express’ ThinkEdu Conclave in Chennai on Wednesday.
The two-day conclave was inaugurated by the VP along with TN Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar. The VP pleasantly surprised the audience by welcoming everyone on stage in chaste Tamil that would have brought a blush to the cheeks of any seasoned Tamil orator. TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla and Editor G S Vasu presented the VP with a copy of a special book titled ‘30 Careers That Will Power 2030’, published by TNIE.
After stating that he had retired from politics but could not avoid paying tribute to former TN CM and enigmatic screen legend MGR on his birth centenary, especially when he is in Chennai, he said, “I’m very happy that the Conclave is happening in Tamil Nadu which I believe is the intellectual capital of India. There are both fertile lands and fertile minds in this State which is why some of the brightest people in our country hail from here.”
On a day packed with sessions that debated the impact of technology on rural India and whether a better education system could ‘clean up’ India’s political class, speakers like former Union minister Jairam Ramesh and NALSAR VC Faizan Mustafa brought the audience alive with their forthright views.
Perhaps the most poignant moment of the day was when a stage packed with politicians from across the spectrum — parliamentarians V Maitreyan and Tiruchi N Siva along with Jayant Sinha and Puducherry CM V Narayanaswamy found agreement — that having a better education system would lead to a cleaner political class, with the caveat, “You can educate a politician but if he chooses to be corrupt then it is a personal failing.”
Urging students to be respectful of India’s culture while striving to break barriers of caste and religion, Naidu added that they must not discriminate based on religion or caste. “We should not treat anyone as a majority or a minority, or discriminate on the basis of caste or religion. A few people who do wrong (to disturb this) should be dealt with harshly but that doesn’t mean that an entire community is at fault,” he said.
Go abroad, but come back, says VP
Addressing professionals who aspire to go abroad, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said, “Go abroad if you want — go, learn, earn but return to serve your motherland”