Chief Guest Shri Amit Shah's Convocation Address
IRMA Convocation 2022
Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, IRMA; Dr. Umakant Dash, Director, IRMA; Representatives of organizations contributing to cooperation and rural development present here today; Members of the Board of IRMA; and the soul of this ceremony – more than 250 students who have been conferred their Degree in Rural Management, I am truly excited to be meet you and be in your midst. I am excited because I have awarded this Degree today to people who will work towards realizing Mahatma Gandhi’s dream and his vision for this country.
This nation can’t become Aatmanirbhar without providing the required impetus to its rural development, making rural development an active contributor to the economy, and having rural development take every person in our villages on the path of prosperity. I was asking a few students on the stage about their placements. One mentioned Flipkart, a few others mentioned some established financial institutions. So long as you imbibe the values given to you by IRMA, you will forever be working for rural development. And this is my humble plea to all of you. Keep working for the rural development of this nation all your lives. No one can stop you from contributing. Because contribution does not have expectations. If you want to offer IRMA a Gurudakshina, let it be this vow that you will always work towards the rural development of this great nation.
Today, I stand before you in a great institution which even fills me with pride. IRMA was established by Dr. Verghese Kurien, with a vision for the rural development of the nation. Rural development is not theoretical, nor is it just a concept. It happens only when the people working towards it grind themselves like sandalwood, spreading the fragrance, village-by-village. Rural development in the modern day can only be made possible by creating dedicated courses, formalizing, and modifying it to this era’s needs and requirements. And I believe that on this land of Sardar Patel and Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, IRMA has made this possible by training thousands of dedicated young professionals like you. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Shri Rath and Dr. Dash for inviting me to be a part of the Convocation ceremony of an institution which is an integral part of the structure of rural development in this nation. Today, 251 graduating students at this institute are not students anymore. You are about to embark on the journey of your life. You are now going to contribute to the society, and the nation at large.
Friends, as a child one day I went to fetch a book from the library of Gujarat Vidyapeeth. It was the Taitreyi Upanishad. A Gandhian elder in the library stopped me in my tracks and asked me why I, a 17-year-old, was interested in reading a book as esoteric as the Taitreyi Upanishad. I replied that my Guru had told me that my education wouldn’t be complete without reading it. The elder shared a very important lesson with me, which I am going to share now with you. He said that knowledge or gyaan was not limited to a particular domain or a subject. That which can be shared from self to others is real knowledge. Today, as you are going into the world, I urge you to think not only for yourself - for as citizens of India, but it is also your right to aspire for and lead a better life – but also for those for whom leading a better life still remains a dream. I promise you that it will give you a self-satisfaction that cannot be quantified. IRMA’s motto, Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye – Knowledge leads to Liberation – is true. Liberation cannot be expressed. It can only be felt. But it cannot happen without self-satisfaction. And the greatest satisfaction can be derived from service to those who need it the most. Today, I remember Dr. Verghese Kurien, who established IRMA to promote sustainable, ecologically-friendly, and equitable socio-economic development of rural people through professional management. And you should remember this. You should also aim to give back to the place from where you’ve gained so much. You’re going from IRMA, having received a lot but now is also the time for you to start giving back to the institute by keeping in mind its philosophy.
Mahatma Gandhi said that the soul of India lives in its villages. This tells us so much about the visionary that he was! What he really meant was that in order for this nation to progress, the villages of the nation had to progress. If the nation wants to become aatmanirbhar, the villages of the nation had to become aatmanirbhar. And it all started with the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2014. He has presented to us all his grand vision for rural development in the country. And it all starts with people. The development of the people will lead to development all around. The Government, led by Shri Narendra Modi, has worked tirelessly over the past eight years for the development of the people, of villages, and that of India. Can you imagine that over 60 crore people in this country were disconnected from the nation’s economy just because they did not have a bank account? They could not contribute to the growth of their own nation because they did not have the means to do it. But today, I can tell you with confidence, that there is no family in the country which does not have a bank account within it. A lot of you are from UP and Bihar and you would know that there were several families, especially from the Purvanchal region who did not have an electricity connection even after 70+ years of independence. But today, the Government has ensured power to the remotest regions of the country. Today, there is a toilet in every household, and we are reaching the one hundred per cent open defecation free status very soon. There is clean, fluoride-free, drinking water in every home, clean cooking fuel and free medical facilities up to Rs. Five lakh to all through the Ayushman Bharat card. Another dimension of rural management is the connection of villages with tehsil and district headquarters through a flawless network of roads and through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the Government has established this network. Our villages did not have power connections thereby leaving people, who wanted to establish a business with cold products and the needy who require medicines that are supposed to be stored in cold temperatures, in a lurch. This Government has brought power to each and every village. Khadi, a passion of Gandhiji, was forgotten in his own nation. But since 2014, Khadi has been brought back to the public consciousness in such a proud manner that the turnover of the Khadi Gramodyog Sangh has just crossed Rs. One Lakh Crore. Rural development cannot happen without the development of agriculture. More than 75% of this country’s farmers own less than two acres of cultivable land. According to NABARD, the total cost of cultivation for such land is about Rs. 6000 to Rs. 7000 per annum. Our farmers often fall into debt traps or end up taking loans from banks for this amount. The Government has provided the farmers with the same amount so as to eliminate the need for a loan. What about the marketing of the farmers’ produce? How will this produce reach the market? The Hon’ble Prime Minister instituted the Ministry of Cooperation for the first time in the history of this great nation so that the people at the ground can benefit from it. I assure you that the Ministry is working tirelessly in taking cooperation and collectivism to new heights and towards the development of our nation. To take the development story forward, the Government listed 100 aspirational districts and gave thrust to developmental activities therein and it is my pleasure to inform you that in just over two-and-a-half years, most of these districts are now developed districts and are on the fast track to development. There are now dedicated funds to make districts cleaner and greener and several parameters have been set in place to measure and implement developmental activities.
Friends, this country cannot develop so long as its villages are not developed. Even today, 70% of India resides in villages. There are people who need development interventions. All of us are fortunate to have studied and having a shot at a better life but there are plenty who are not so fortunate. It is thus, our responsibility to work for these people and help them get out of the darkness. Till the time 70% of India does not contribute to the nation’s success, there will be no success. As soon as we make 70% of our country a contributor to the development story, the dream of making India a $5 trillion economy will be realised.
The dream of an Aatamnirbhar Bharat will only be realised when there are Aatamnirbhar villages. But this cannot happen if there is no rural development. This cannot happen without you, the graduates of an institute like IRMA, who have a huge role to play in this story. I hope that IRMA will play a crucial role in taking the cooperative movement forward. Cooperation needs to be inclusive, transparent, and modern. Only then can the people and the villages become Aatamnirbhar. It can only happen when institutes like IRMA contribute more to the cause.
Friends, nobody can take from you that which you have learnt. No one can take your knowledge away. You can think out-of-the-box and bring novel solutions for problems. Nobody is born big. It is your actions that make you big and I sincerely hope and wish that you all will do big things in your life and for your country.
Vande Mataram!
