KASARGOD: New bills and laws alone cannot stop crimes against women and children, said Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
After Nirbhaya, there was an ordinance, but there was no drop in atrocities against women, he said, after inaugurating the academic blocks in the Central University of Kerala on Sunday.
"Bill is required but Bill will not suffice. Along with it, political will is required. Administrative skill is required," the vice-president said. Above all, he called for a change in the mindset of individuals and "a personal will to kill the social evil".
The views are in contrast to what Naidu said at the 31st convocation of Kurukshetra University last Thursday. He had blamed colonial and foreign rule in India for the lack of respect towards women, leading to crimes against them.
Speaking in Periya, Naidu also dwelt on the issues of caste discrimination. The prevalence of caste discrimination and unaccountability even 70 years after Independence was a shame to all, he said. "We should together curb the menace and politics should not come in the way. We should not combine politics with caste," he said.
In public and political life, caste, community, cash and criminality should have no role to play. "People should be selected, elected and respected based on character, calibre, capacity and conduct," he said.
VP to bat for medical college in Central University of Kerala
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu dedicated the eight academic blocks of Central University of Kerala to the nation, at Periya on Sunday.
The blocks, built at a cost of Rs 310 crore, spread over 3 lakh sq ft. With this, all the departments, run from transist campuses in Padannakkad and Vidyanagar in Kasargod district would be shifted to Periya, said vice chancellor G Gopa Kumar.
Raising the hopes of the people of Kasargod, Naidu said the district required a medical college. He said people of the district were depending on the neighbouring state for tertiary care.
"I hope you will also have a medical institute in the future. A medical college was very much necessary in this corner of the state," he said and added: "I will bring that to the notice of the Union government."
There is a proposal to set up a medical college on the Periya campus of the Central University.
The Vice President said though there were around 800 universities in India, none of them figured in the top-ranking educational institutions of the world. "We cannot adopt the business as usual approach if we want to change the situation," he said and urged the people running the universities to introspect.
He called on all private educational institutions and central universities to revamp the educational architecture to meet the requirements of the 21st century.
The VC said the university started with 17 students in 2009, and now had 1,426. The student enrollment is expected to touch 5,000 by 2022.