I am indeed delighted to be in this divine campus for participating in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Sri Venkateswara University. I take this opportunity to congratulate all those who have contributed in promoting excellence in educational standards of this University during last five decades. The University has made significant contribution in enhancing the higher education level of the people in the Rayalaseema region.

Also the research programmes of the University are directed towards finding solutions to the problems of drought-prone Rayalaseema region. I am happy to note that the University is emphasizing on extension activities like Home Science, Sociology, Population Studies and Adult Education where the fruits of research are shared with the community. Centre for Peace and Non-violence advocating the value of peaceful co-existence and national integration and a Centre for Human Rights and Social Development which conducts awareness programmes on human rights and human development, are indeed unique departments in University atmosphere.

Any University is judged by the level and extent of the research work it accomplishes. This sets in a regenerative cycle of excellence. Experience of research leads to quality teaching and quality teaching imparted to the young in turn enriches the research. Research brings transformation and development and also enhances the quality of education. Both the research and teaching are being carried out in the best tradition of Sri Venkateswara University. Today I would like to share with you the dynamics of development.

Law of development

As you all know the world has a few developed countries and many developing countries. When you look at the development patterns and the dynamics of connectivity between nations, you will find that Developed country has to market their products in a competitive way to different countries to remain as developed country. A developing country to get transformed into developed country; also has to market their products to other countries. Competitiveness is the deciding factor for economic growth. Competitiveness has three dimensions: quality of the product, cost effectiveness and supply in time. Indeed this dynamics of competitiveness in marketing of products by developing and developed countries is called the law of development. Technology is the key to competitiveness. Academia and research institutions must provide this input to the industry for making our products competitive, to enable India to become a developed nation in less than two decades.

Core competence

I consider that each one of our Universities should develop a unique core competence needed for the nation and related to the region in which the University is established, apart from their multidisciplinary roles and research. Venkateswara University is uniquely placed with its academic strength in addressing the problems of the drought-prone region, rural development and entrepreneurship development. The strength in these areas should enable the University to build its core competence on promoting a self-sustainable rural economy.

With your core competence and experience in multi-disciplinary projects, you can contribute in national missions, such as Interlinking of rivers and Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) to transform India into a developed nation.

Interlinking of rivers

Interlinking of rivers is essential for flood and drought control, for availability of drinking water to all regions, for goods navigation and transportation and for increased power generation and cultivation of land. This mission will also provide employment opportunities to the rural population. Remote sensing to survey and evolve optimum water routes, environmental mapping and afforestation requirements and GIS for continuous monitoring of the networked water flow through all seasons and at all times may require a dedicated satellite constellation for our interlinked river systems. Above all, the interlinking will lead to enhancement of environment and national connectivity.

It is possible to evolve a scheme by which 14 Himalayan tributaries of Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in northern India can be linked and the same transferred to south via a series of canals and pumping stations across the Vindhyas to replenish the 17 southern rivers. Interlinking of the rivers is the challenge for the young. It is an interdisciplinary task involving number of specialists in various branches of engineering, environmentalists, economists and management experts. I suggest Sri Venkateswara University should become an active partner of this mega mission.

PURA model

As you are aware, our Prime Minister in his Independence Day announcements has declared a rural development programme called PURA - Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. It involves identification of rural clusters with growth potential and creating four types of connectivities for them -

1. Physical Connectivity in the form of Road, transportation, and power connectivity

2. Electronic connectivity in the form of reliable telecom, Internet and IT services

3. Knowledge connectivity in the form of good educational and training institutions, and

4. Economic connectivity that would enable farmers and others to get the best prices for their produce.

Majority of our population lives in villages. The development of the nation requires enhancement of economic connectivity of the villages. The Venkateswara University can take this as a theatre of action. Out of 6 lakhs villages in the country, about 50,000 PURA complexes would emerge. What is the type of farming to be chosen, area under cultivation, water management, production, food processing and marketing is a task of paramount effort. The Venkateswara University can consider the PURA model to be implemented in the Rayalaseema region to start with, keeping the following variables in mind:

A. Number of villages per complex

B. Number of village-complexes for the state

C. Crop pattern for different complexes based on soil, weather, core competence, water availability and region (hill or plain)

D. Cultivation methods

E. Food processing units

F. Marketing centres

The model should enable proper selection of clusters and deployment of our youth in different areas of agriculture, agro processing and the market to make this programme a reality.

Entrepreneurial leadership

When the student goes out of this campus after graduation, they should have the confidence to start and enterprise individually or jointly. Entrepreneurship development should become a part of university education. The entrepreneurial leadership has three parts. First, problem finding and problem solving in the context of development. In second part, the entrepreneurs should have the willingness to take risk and be bold to do things differently. We must teach our graduates to take calculated risks for the sake of larger gain. The third part is the disposition to do things right. This capacity will enable them to take up tasks on interlinking of rivers and establishing and running PURA in their regions.

Conclusion

When a child is empowered by the parents at various phases of growth, the child gets transformed into a responsible citizen. When a teacher is empowered with knowledge and experience, good young human beings with value systems emerge. When a leader of any institution empowers his or her people, leaders are born who can change the nation in multiple areas. When women are empowered, society with stability gets assured. When the political leaders of the nation empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of the nation is certain. There is a need to empower the students to explore new avenues for making faster progress in the development mission. When an individual or a team is empowered with technology, transformation to higher potential for achievement is assured. During the last five decades Sri Venkateswara University has developed core competence in rural development and also shaped many young minds who have contributed for our societal growth. Now you have a challenging opportunity to generate large number of enlightened citizens and leaders from Sri Venkateswara University who will be the nation builders of this millennium. I am sure all of you assembled here will contribute towards this cause and enrich the state and the nation.

I wish you all success in your endeavours.

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