‘Youth are growth engine of India’: Union minister Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur stressed upon holistic learning experience through a multidisciplinary approach under the National Education Policy (NEP)

Image Source: ANI

Hisar: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday dubbed the youth the growth engine of the country and called upon them to be proactive and innovative and embrace new technology to upskill and reskill themselves. Thakur was delivering the convocation address at Om Sterling Global University in Hisar. He also inaugurated a community radio station, 90.0 'Bhavyavani', established at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of the university. Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kamal Gupta and Lok Sabha MP from Hisar Brijendra Singh were also present.

Addressing the gathering, Thakur said, "The whole world is looking at India's youth with hope because you are the growth engine of the country and India is the growth engine of the world."

"India is celebrating 75 years of its Independence and we need brain gain to make India a fully developed nation by 2047," he said.

To make India a developed nation, there should be immense possibilities of education, he said. Thakur stressed upon holistic learning experience through a multidisciplinary approach under the National Education Policy (NEP).

"As they say, education is the great leveller, our government gives immense importance to it. You are well aware that it took more than 34 years to come out with NEP. I can say today that it was formulated with an emphasis on the multidisciplinary nature of studies to provide a holistic learning experience.

"You can come here every year, there are new IIT, IIM and medical college which have been opened up enabling young people to skill themselves and become industry ready because education is the backbone for the growth of any country and its people," he said.

Touching upon another issue, Thakur said India has the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world. He stated that 110 start-ups have gained unicorn status. There are more than 85,000 start-ups in the country, he said and lauded the Narendra Modi government for its start-up programme.

He lauded the daughters of Haryana for bringing laurels for the country by winning medals in various disciplines. He called upon universities and educational institutions to upgrade sports infrastructure and the youth to actively participate in 'Fit India Movement' stressing upon 'Fitness Ka Dose, Aadha Ghanta Roz' to be fit and healthy.

The minister congratulated the students who graduated and got degrees in the first-ever convocation of the university. He also interacted with the youth on this occasion.

The minister later visited the Doordarshan Kendra in Hisar. He told reporters there that many TV channels are being made available free of cost through Prasar Bharati's DTH run by the central government to educate and entertain people and inform them about the glorious history of India.

He directed the officials concerned to maintain cleanliness at the Doordarshan Kendra and to ensure auctioning of damaged items.