RANCHI: Saying that 20 per cent of the population in the country is illiterate even after seventy years of independence, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today called upon every section of the society to come forward in eradicating illiteracy.
Addressing a programme organised on International Literacy Day here, Naidu said that it was shameful for the country that even after 70 years of independence 30 crore people are illiterate. But he cautioned that it is not a subject of politics rather all the citizens must think over the issue and come forward to eradicating illiteracy. It is not only the responsibility of the government, but also the society. Naidu said that this is a big challenge for the country as literacy and education are must for the uplift of the poor, development of the state and the country, eradication of corruption and even for the fight against superstitions.
Naidu said that it is not that the governments after independence did not try to eradicate illiteracy but even after their best efforts only 80 per cent of the country’s population is literate now. He said it is appreciable that the Raghubar Das government in its tenure of nearly three years has succeeded in making 32 lakh more people literate and it will be an important achievement of the state if they achieve complete literacy by the year 2019/20 as per their commitment. He expressed happiness at people coming from far off places to attend the programme. "Literacy is for self-respect, literacy if for total development," Naidu said while saying literacy campaign is not only done by the governments but everyone should come forward and participate in the programme. Expressing happiness at honouring women who have showed interest in the literacy campaign, learned and inspired others, he said honouring them would inspire others too. "...they are doing work of the community, work of the state and work of the country," he added. He said age is no bar for learning and one can learn at any age.
Literacy is very much necessary for taking forwarding the society, industry, he said and added education for enlightenment, education for empowerment and education for employment. "Saab ka Saath Saab ka Vikas (Together with all, Development for all)" would happen when Jharkhand would become literate and the pledge of Saab ka Saath Saab ka Vikas would be fulfilled, he said.
He also said that it was necessary to educate women as when they become educated ‘sanskar’ would be developed in the family. He quoted the reference from puranas and mahabharat and said that India has a rich culture and the tradition of empowerment of women as "saraswati was education minister, Parwati/Durga was defence minister and Laxmi was the finance minister during that period. Even rivers are named after names of women." After 70 years now India has got a women defence minister in the form of Nirmala Sitharaman. The vice president stressed upon the education and empowerment of women for the holistic development of the country.