NILGIRIS: Vice-President (V-P) Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday lauded Governor RN Ravi, who has been in the line of fire from all corners for organising the V-Cs conference. Dhankhar commended Ravi for “this thoughtful initiative” and said he has acted in accordance with the Constitution.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day vice-chancellors conference of state, central, and private universities of Tamil Nadu at the Raj Bhavan, Udhagamandalam.
“The governor is doing this conference because it is his constitutional ordainment. He has taken oath under the Constitution (Article 159). The oath is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the law. By organising such events, which are extremely relevant to the field of education, Governor Ravi is vindicating his oath. I must commend him for this very thoughtful initiative taken by him in 2022 to have conference of vice-chancellors,” Dhankar said.
He said Pahalgam terror attack was a grim reminder that terrorism is a global menace that needs to be addressed by humanity in unison. Dhankhar also appealed to the people to rise above political, personal and other interests to prioritise national interest. Bharat, he said, was the world’s most peace loving nation and her civilisation ethos reflected in “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the doctrine that sees the world as a family) was getting global resonance.
Ravi, and V-Cs joined the V-P in observing a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in the Pahalgam terrorist attack in J&K on April 22.
“The visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was our greatest assurance that a nation’s rise cannot be handicapped by any situation, internal or external. But we all have to bear in mind that national interest is supreme,” he said.
Dhankhar stressed the need to always keep national interest, which cannot be intertwined with partisan interest, uppermost. “It cannot be subservient to other interests, political, personal or for a group. It was with this spirit that we observed silence,” he said.
Speaking about the changing academic landscape, he said, “Today, not only Bharat but the entire world is faced with formidable challenges, rapid technological disruption. Every facet of life is being affected and it is therefore in the lap of universities, ably led on the front foot by V-Cs, to act as the stewards of India’s academic landscape.
One challenge which the V-Cs must be facing is faculty availability, faculty retention, and sometimes faculty addition. I would appeal to all of you to engage in sharing with one another. Use technology, don’t be an island in yourselves. It is not a time to be standalone because this challenge has to be fixed. We have no time.”
About National Education Policy (NEP), he said the most significant aspect of NEP is that it allows students to learn in their mother tongue.