BHOPAL, June 6: President Pranab Mukherjee today stressed the need to foster Hindi and other regional languages which are essential for the success of social welfare and development programmes.
“Language has an important role between the Government and the
people. Hindi, which has always played an important role in national integration, is a symbol of India’s social and cultural unity,” the President said while laying the foundation of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University here.
Pointing out that education has an important role to play in the development of the society and the nation, the President said the recent rise in crimes against women and children was a cause for deep concern.
“It not only calls for effective measures for their safety and
security but also requires us to urgently introspect and find ways
to arrest the erosion of values in our society,” he said.
He called on universities to take the lead in starting a sustained programme for meeting the contemporary moral challenges and ensure the civilisational values of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, respect for women and elderly, truth and honesty in life, discipline and self-restraint in conduct, and responsibility in action are inculcated fully in the young minds.
The President said 2010-20 has been declared as the decade of innovation. He said he had opened ‘innovation clubs’ in two central universities in Uttar Pradesh and Assam recently and had attended exhibitions on these subjects at these institutions. He urged the university to take the initiative to build a strong innovation culture.
Mr Mukherjee said former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, after whom the university had been named, had penned several poems in Hindi and his works had played an important role in promoting the language.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said she expected that the university focus on preventing deterioration of Hindi language, promoting exchange of literary richness between Hindi and other vernacular languages and developing translators who can translate to and from Hindi and other foreign languages.
She said naming the Hindi University after Mr Vajpayee was an appropriate decision as the ex-premier was an authority on the language.
Describing the establishment of the Hindi University as a dream
come true, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the main objective behind its inception was that language should not become a barrier for Hindi-knowing students in pursuing higher education.
Mr Chouhan said the decision to name the university after the ex-premier was taken as he had increased the respect for the language.
Culture Minister Laxmikant Sharma said the university would begin its session from this year itself. The Hindi University would even include curriculum on medical and engineering subjects in later stages.
Governor Ram Naresh Yadav and the university’s vice-chancellor Mohan Lal Cheepa also addressed the function. Union Minister V Narayansamy, former union minister Suresh Pachouri and ex-Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kailash Joshi were also present. (UNI)
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