MADRAS VETERINARY COLLEGE STANDS
OUT AS A GLORIOUS TESTIMONY TO THE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC CULTURE
OF TAMIL NADU - SHEKHAWAT
Vice President,
Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said that Madras Veterinary College
stands out as a testimony to the outstanding academic culture
of Tamil Nadu. Shri Shekhawat was inaugurating the centenary celebrations
of the Madras Veterinary College at Chennai today. He further
said that in our country, where the livestock population is the
largest in the world, we need a wide network of Veterinary Colleges
along with Agricultural Universities. I am afraid the right kind
of infrastructure and facilities for Veterinary education and
research are yet to be put in place in many of these institutes.
We ought to identify atleast a dozen of them and develop them
as national centers of excellence with the state-of-the-art facilities
to our veterinary students to bring out the best of their talent
and genius. Following is the text of the address of the Vice President:
"I am extremely
happy to be here in the premises of a University, which has the
distinction of being the first Veterinary and Animal Sciences
University of our country – nay, in the whole Asia. Today is also
a historic moment when the core constituent of this University,
the Madras Veterinary College is in its Centenary Year. In these
hundred years of glorious existence, you have earned many outstanding
distinctions, honours and precious jewels in your crown. Indeed,
it is an occasion to rejoice and celebrate. My greetings and compliments
to all of you.
Friends, I come
from Rajasthan and being a very small farmer myself, I know how
crucial livestock is for sustaining the livelihood of the rural
poor. In my long public life of over fifty years, I have seen
from hand-shaking distance the misery as well as problems faced
by the small and marginal farmers of agriculture and livestock.
I have the first hand knowledge as to what veterinary care means
to a farmer; what important role a Veterinary institute plays
in rural development. It is for this reason that I am extremely
delighted to be present here this afternoon when this oldest Veterinary
College of India is ready for its Centenary Celebrations. And
for providing me this grand opportunity, I owe my grateful thanks
to the dynamic Chief Minister, Selvi Dr. Jayalalithaa. Madam,
I greet you and offer my felicitations on the distinction achieved
by this College of your wonderful State.
Tamil Nadu has
always had strong traditions in academics and learning. Successive
generations contributed significantly towards building a large
and durable educational and research infrastructure, which sustained
a splendid academic tradition in this historic land. The renowned
Tamil poet, Subramania Bharati while praising Saraswati,
the Goddess of learning, for all her gifts to Tamil Nadu, once
wrote :
"The lamp of learning
in every house,
In each street
a school or two;
In the town and
cities of our land
Polytechnics not
a few;
Where there is
no research
To consign that
place to the fire
Is the best way
to win her favour,
The nectar of
our desire."
I am very happy to
see that the Madras Veterinary College stands out as one such
glorious testimony to the outstanding academic culture of Tamil
Nadu.
In our country, where
the livestock population is the largest in the world, we need
a wide network of Veterinary Colleges along with Agricultural
Universities. I am afraid the right kind of infrastructure and
facilities for Veterinary education and research are yet to be
put in place in many of these institutes. We ought to identify
atleast a dozen of them and develop them as national centers of
excellence with the state-of-the-art facilities to our veterinary
students to bring out the best of their talent and genius.
Agriculture, along
with livestock husbandry, is a part of our way of life and social
ethos in rural India. Livestock provides a vital source of income
to millions of households in rural areas with limited or no land
resource. In fact, but for this supportive income, many farmers
would be in debt. The importance of the livestock sector is further
enhanced by the fact that a vast majority of women are involved
in several important aspects from feeding to breeding, from health
care to marketing. With this big involvement of women, I have
no doubt, that growth and development of this sector can be a
major source of their economic empowerment.
Friends, the key
focus of rural development has to be on augmenting rural incomes
and generating employment opportunities. it is in this context
that livestock husbandry and allied activities assume critical
importance. In my view, we are guilty of having not realized the
vast potential this sector offers for development of our rural
economy. No doubt, considerable success has been achieved through
the white revolution -- we now rank first in the world in milk
production and fourth or fifth in egg production. But, let us
have a look at the remarkable level of development achieved by
countries like Denmark and Sweden. Our country does not suffer
from any resource handicap of any sort in their comparison. What
we lack is only the 'will' to give the requisite thrust and a
determined push to attain full growth-potential. Let us not loose
any more time; we ought to recognize developing this sector as
of crucial importance, the one which would create large employment
avenues to absorb many more numbers than all the graduating students
of our veterinary colleges.
In the above context,
I am happy to recall the success of the Gopal scheme which
we had launched in Rajasthan wherein unemployed educated youth
were trained to take up artificial insemination programme in rural
areas. The immense success and popularity of the scheme could
be judged by the fact that many of the youth so employed very
soon became income tax payers. I have no doubt that institutions
like yours can surely come out with many such innovative schemes
for training of the youth leading to their self employment as
well as spread of veterinary services deep into the rural areas.
Friends, on this
occasion let me also share with you some of my concerns on the
key issues of development and governance. Our achievements since
Independence have, no doubt, been significant. We are a vibrant
and the largest democracy in the world; democracy with us has
taken deep roots and our democratic institutions are strong and
sound. We have achieved great strides in industrial and economic
growth. We are self-sufficient in food-grains. Our achievements
in the field of space, defence and atomic energy have been spectacular.
We are on the highway to emerge as super power in information
technology. The country now has the confidence to move ahead on
the high growth trajectory with accelerated speed. However, we
have also to be conscious of the formidable challenges that we
will have to face and overcome.
The challenge of
bulging population is the most formidable. Unless we stabilise
the population, the fruits of development would not be real. You
would be surprised to know that Britain and India had roughly
similar per capita levels of industrialisation at the onset of
industrial revolution in year 1750 but India’s level came down
as low as one-hundredth of the United Kingdom's by the year 1900.
The reason was that India’s population doubled and redoubled in
the 19th century but on a much less productive base.
The lesson for us is obvious. We must work, with a sense of urgency,
towards creating an environment where population stabilisation
becomes the shared objective and national goal of all of us.
Taking care of the
problems of the poor is an equally important challenge. About
30% of our population still lives in extreme poverty. Many villages
still do not have access to safe drinking water. I consider seeking
riddance from poverty as the fundamental right of a person, and
the task of poverty alleviation as the fundamental duty of any
system of governance.
Friends, no challenge
is insurmountable provided we have the will and the determination.
We only need to harness the capacity of the human mind to find
new ways of doing things, to invent new devices, to organize production
in improved forms, to stimulate fresh and innovative approaches
to the problems.
I have an abiding
faith in the destiny of our country. I am sanguine about realizing
the vision of being a developed nation by the year 2020. All of
us together will make India strong and powerful; a successful
and exemplary democracy which Mahatma Gandhi described as one
"which promotes true welfare of the people"; a strong
India of high ethical and spiritual values.
Friends, in building
a strong and developed India, full of glory and success, each
and every one of us will need to make due contribution. I have
no doubt, in this endeavour the Madras Veterinary College and
other constituents of the University will become worthy partners
and prominent stakeholders through sincere and sustained hard
work of its academicians, researchers, scientists and staff as
well as its students. An institution is not just a structure of
bricks and mortar. Generations of teachers and students contribute
towards making a University, a seat of learning and excellence.
I am reminded what Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said at a Convocation
of the University of Allahabad, I quote, "a University stands
for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for progress, for the
adventure of the ideas, and for the search for truth. It stands
for the onwards march of the human race towards even higher objective".
Members of the faculty
and dear students of this great College, and the University, I
urge you to always follow the path of the righteousness, industriousness,
perseverance, honesty and commitment in pursuit of excellence;
and above all be a good human being. I am confident that your
success and achievement will be a matter of pride, adding feathers
in the cap of your College and the University, and ultimately
be the success of India.
With these words,
I wish your College, all the members of the faculty and staff
as well as the students, and all of you a bright and rewarding
future and the centenary celebrations a grand success".
