Nationalism isn't merely saying Vande Mataram or Jai Hind, Venkaiah Naidu at Great Lakes convocation

The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu has said that India has emerged as an attractive destination for global investors and asked educational institutions to maintain high standards and foster academic excellence. He was addressing the 15th annual Convocation of Great Lakes Institute of Management, in Chennai.

Observing that India was poised to become a US $ 5 trillion economy in the next few years, Naidu said there was a need to remove economic imbalances, urban-rural divide, end gender and social discrimination and enhance the prestige of all the institutions, including the Supreme Court, CAG, CVC, EC, Parliament and State Legislatures. He said that nobody should say or do anything to undermine the sanctity of these institutions. There are appropriate forums to redress grievances if any, he added.

Naidu said that India is the largest Parliamentary democracy in the world and has a track record of the effective electoral system and conducting elections on a regular basis. Describing elections as ‘Festival of Democracy”, he complimented the Election Commission for conducting the stupendous exercise in a peaceful and orderly manner.

Asking the graduating students to respect their alma mater and always act to enhance its reputation, Naidu advised them to focus on achieving academic excellence and become socially conscientious citizens. He said that the atmosphere on university campuses should not be vitiated by extraneous issues and added that he was happy that barring a few, most of the 900 Universities were free from any disturbance.

He also told them not to neglect their parents, mother tongue, motherland and teacher. He further said that they should also strive to promote and protect the safety and security of the motherland. “Taking care of fellow human beings is nationalism and not merely saying Vande Mataram or Jai Hind”, he added. He also emphasized the need for the education system to inculcate ethical and moral values among the students.

Observing that management was not confined to the corporate sector alone, Shri Naidu said that the scope of management studies should cover the rural economy, agriculture and allied industry and provide solutions to make these sectors viable and vibrant.

Eminent scientist Dr R A Mashelkar, President, Global Research Alliance & Former Director General, CSIR, and Dr R Seetharaman, CEO and MD of Doha Bank, along with Dr Vaidy Jayaraman, Associate Dean & Principal, Dr Sudhakar Balachandran, Faculty, Dean’s Forum, Great Lakes Institute of Management, the board of directors, faculty, staff and students were also present at the event. Founder, Dean & Chairman of the board, Dr. Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management, addressed the students over a video call.

The convocation saw 624 students graduating this year across full-time and executive programs including PGPM, PGDM, PGXPM and PGPM (Flex). A total of 107 gold medals were awarded to nearly 95 graduands in the following categories – Academic toppers, Overall outstanding contribution, Dean’s merit list, Domain toppers, best Empirical Study and Committee contributors. Sai Medha Pradeep, from the PGPM batch of 2018 -19,  bagged four gold medals for the best academic topper, best outgoing student, marketing domain topper, and best empirical study, and received a cash prize of Rs 4 lakhs.