Marauders and Invaders Came, Recklessly Destroying Our Institutions, but We’re Springing Back: VP Dhankhar

Chandigarh/Mohali:  Citing 5,000 years old  civilizational  legacy of India, (the Bharat), Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar,  exhorted the audience at IISER (Indian Institute of Science Reducation & Research) Mohali today,           “to take pride in the fact that Bharat had been  a glory of the world, epicenter of knowledge and culture. People from all over the world flocked in pursuit of knowledge. That is your motto. What a motto you have picked up. Nalanda, Taxila, people came from all over the world in search of knowledge, shared knowledge and wisdom.”

“We at the moment are at a very critical juncture, and I say so with some amount of nostalgia. I got into the seat of governance 35 years ago when I was elected to Parliament (Lok Sabha) and had the good fortune to be a Minister. I know the situation there. The mood of the nation. Our worrisome foreign exchange, disturbed Jammu and Kashmir. I saw it all around, and our government didn’t last long, not because of me. And what I see now, 180 degree difference. The nation has an environment of hope and possibility. Our global image is very high.”

Praising the leadership of  our Prime Minister Narendra Modi -that is globally acknowledged. ” And we have traversed against heavy winds. Difficult terrain. From fragile five economies to the world’s largest five economies at the moment. Ahead of those who ruled us for centuries, the Great Britain. It is a matter of time. That we will be marching ahead of Japan and Germany also to be the third largest in about a year or so. Such a jump. When I was elected first in parliament I had no courage to dream. Then that was the time, young boys and girls, where a Member of Parliament felt really an authority because he or she could give 50 gas connections or 50 telephone connections in a year. Imagine where we have come. In the shortest possible time, 550 million people of the country benefited from banking inclusions. They never had that account.”

“Today over 100 million households have toilets. Cooking gas in every house, electricity in every house, internet in every remote corner, health centres and education centres around, road connectivity, everything is happening. World class infrastructure we are seeing of global benchmark, and therefore, as I said this morning also, no nation in the world has grown as fast in the last 10 years as Bharat. This has created a challenge. A challenge of aspirational youth. They want more. They are entitled to more because they have tasted development. They see it on the ground. They know that per capita internet consumption of India is more than that of US and China taken together, that speaks of our access to technology and adaptability of technology.

Recalling his stint as a Union Minister and earlier when our gold had to be shipped in an aeroplane to be placed to two banks in Switzerland because our foreign exchange was around 1 billion US dollars in 1991.  Now it is 700 times. And not a cause of concern, and therefore, the challenge is how do we meet aspirations of our young minds and my message to young minds. Seriously, look around, the opportunity basket which for you is getting larger and larger by the day. Come out of these silos and groove that are defined jobs only with the government or working in a corporate.

“Startups, unicorns are doing wonders. Let me tell you, IITs and IIMs have given these unicorns. Now we put rockets of other countries, USA also, developed countries also, Singapore also, from our and make money. Good value for money. Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan – They are defining us. I had the good occasion to have discussion with S. Somnathan, ISRO chairman, he was till recently, now V. Narayanan. Their fire, their zeal, their commitment, very different. In Bangalore, Govindan Rangarajan, Indian Institute of Science, and Dr. Clyde Shelby. I had the occasion to see personally what kind of innovations are being done for larger public welfare by scientific and industrial research. I say so because a country’s reputation, image, power is to be defined by research.

“And we have an ancient legacy of having been researchers, discoverers, giving to the world right from zero in arithmetic or mathematics. Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta laid foundations of global mathematics. Our scientific pantheon, Raman known by Raman effect, Bose, Sarabhai, Chandrasekhar, Shah, Bhatnagar, and our former president, they define India’s research mind, orientation. They exemplify commitment to research. And look at those days, we were in colonial shackles. Raman effect discovered against colonial scepticism.

“It stands as a testament to our Indian scientific beliefs. Cutting edge research is demand of the times. And the research has to correlate to fulfil the needs of the society.  The research must create a wave. It must have positive, cascading impact on the lives of the people. Industries, business, trade and commerce are driven by research. At the moment, boys and girls, we are living in times we never imagined. You are facing those times as much as I am doing. We call them Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Machine Learning and the kind. Blockchain for some may be Blockchain. Machine Learning may be Machine Learning only. But look at the power these technologies have.

And these technologies are known as disruptive technologies. But these technologies come with enormous challenges that can uproot us. But they come also with a basket of opportunities. And we must focus on unleashing opportunity out of these disruptive technologies. Our research has to come up to that mark. It is our good fortune that the government is alive to the situation.

And we as a nation, home to one sixth of humanity, are at the moment focussing on these technologies. Our quantum computing. There is a reflection by the director. About 6 lakh or 8 lakh jobs will be created out of investment of 6 lakh crores. Quantum computing, there is allocation of 6,000 crores and 18,000 crores for green hydrogen mission. These are the opportunities for you people. Space economy, blue economy. These are the opportunities for you.  And therefore research has to facilitate life of the ordinary person. To improve our industry, our administration. A nation of 1.4 billion and a rich human resource unrivalled in the world. If it is catalysed and activated by temperament of research, the results will be exponential, geometric and revolutionary. Because now Bharat is no longer a nation with a potential. Our rise is unstoppable for last few years.

“I will take the occasion to appeal to corporates that they must come forward to drive the engines of research. Liberally contribute because ultimately they are the beneficiaries. Alongside the government they should be making liberal contributions beyond their CSR funds. If you look at the global corporates, how much they invest you will be surprised. We take pride in the last five years. We have increased our research fiscal commitment in the corporates to 50% above.

Vice President Dkankhar cited the  slow revenue growth from 0.89% of their revenue to 1.32%.  “I find it deficient. Investment has to be many times more. We take pride also because earlier things were not moving. Now things are moving. When things are moving, we notice a change. Patents have nearly more than doubled in the last ten years. But our patents must be in consonance with our demographic participation in the world. One-sixth we must have. Because we are one-sixth of humanity. And this one-sixth of humanity qualitatively is very different than one-sixth. And therefore, taking note of technology access and adaptability, we need to be in optimal performance mindset.

“Because science unfolds your mind to generate creativity, innovation. And then the next step is research. A combination of these will unlock the enormous potential of Indian mind. Will make available avenues and vistas to our population. Every nation hopes to be self-reliant. But we as a nation are very large. Complex on occasions. When the nation is growing so fast, some of us, the number is very small. The traction is large. Put personal interest, commercial interest, political interest, above national interest. This can’t be allowed. This is unfair to boys and girls.

“This is unfair to everyone, because if in our democracy there is someone as a class more serious, significant stakeholder in democracy and growth, than any one of us sitting here, is the youth of the country. Because as we march towards  Viksit Bharat in  2047, you are the driving force behind engines of growth. And therefore we have to give new dimension now. Make in India, start up India. And look at technology. It has to get into healthcare.

Technology has to get into education. Technology can catalyse that quality health and quality education is available to one and all. And if that happens, Bharat will be what it has been for centuries.Our lean period started in 12th century. Then marauders came, invaders came, recklessly destroyed our culture. They sacrileged our religious places to an extent that they put their own at the same place. Then came the Britishers who did not give us the education to rule ourselves. They gave us education and taught us history as suited to them. Now things have changed. We are much ahead of UK in economy. We have a bunch of institutions now all over the country. IITs, IIMs, Institutions like yours, and therefore we must have this ecosystem with ears and eyes on the ground. The litmus test is changing the life of the ordinary man. We all stand committed to that because that is our preamble.

“Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts result in action” and therefore my ultimate plea with you, If an idea occurs to you don’t allow your mind to be a parking ground for that idea because you fear you may fail. Get rid of it. Failure is a myth because there is no one who has not failed but they never took failure as failure. Chandrayaan 2 was failure for some who are critics, who are recipe for negativity. Chandrayaan II did not fail, It went that far, and Chandrayaan-III,  did the rest. Let your innovations catalyse India’s scientific renaissance, and advance human progress because we are a country that believes in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ – One Earth, One Family, One Future, that was our motto to the entire world.

Vice President  concluded, “I am grateful to the Director for making available this opportunity to me at a very short notice. I understand that there has been some inconvenience,”  He also  appreciated Professor Anil Kumar Tripathi, Director IISER, a man who brings on the table huge experience, commitment, and that in his brief address he has revealed the object, the performance and the potential.  and  Professor Renu Vig, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University, who has two distinctions, Dhankhar added..