Lok Sabha Speaker urges educated youths to strengthen democracy

Agartala, Apr 8 (UNI) Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chattrjee today urged the educated youth to join the institutions of Democracy and make those more accountable.

Addressing the sixth convocation of the Tripura University here, Mr Chatterjee said the educated youth should volunteer to join the task of nation building and in holding the institutions of democracy accountable to the society.

He said common people were becoming wary about the intrusion of undesirable elements into the political arena and into the institutions of democracy and indifferent educated youths would only strengthen their cause.

''Those who are morally, socially and financially corrupt should have no place in our national life and we will be able to reap the benefits of democracy only through the effective participation of all our citizens in the political process,'' he said.

Reminding the youths that the future could never belong to those, who were indifferent towards larger social causes, new ideas and bold initiatives, Mr Chatterjee said it would only belong to those, who would remain receptive to new ideas and would be willing to experiment with them in the interest of the world around them.

''It is this quality that I would expect the new graduates to carry with them when they are leaving the protective portals of their University,'' he pointed out.

He emphasized the need for bridging the urban-rural divide in education investment and opportunities and said rural population would have to be given adequate attention in the planning process to realize the country's economic potentials.

''Rural India has a vast reservoir of human energy, intelligence nd aspirations. Its enormous potential has to be converted into national wealth, by evolving education as an integrated package of trditional know-how, academic knowledge and practical skills, which can support the people to earn livelihood both in rural economy and outside it,'' he observed.

Governor and Chancellor of the University Dinesh Nndan Sahaya underlined the need for living interaction between the universities and the business and industry to forge a consortium for funding the upgradation of academic and reseach infrastructure.

''This association will also help the university to take care of the needs of business and industry while choosing the academic and research projects in an environment of globalisation where knowledge, in fact, has turned out to be rather a marketable commodity and weightless capital supplanting physical and labour capital,'' Mr Sahaya said.

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