India’s rise unstoppable, says Vice-President Dhankhar

Jagdeep Dhankar launches Digimed, an initiative of Adichunchanagiri University to integrate digital literacy with medical curriculum

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar said on Friday that India was no longer a nation with a promise but it was a country whose rise was unstoppable.

He was speaking at Samvada — an interaction programme with students of Adichunchanagiri University at Bellur in Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district.

The Vice-President said the present generation of students were living in an age of opportunities and investments and such an ecosystem was unthinkable even 10 years ago. The last decade had given hope to the people at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy, he added.

The Vice-President said the country was building four new airports and one metro every year and 14 km of highways and 6 km of railways was being laid every year which was indicative of the pace with which the country was growing.

Mr. Dhankhar said students had a level-playing field in the present times and patronage had yielded to meritocracy while transparency and accountable governance were the new norm.

The Vice-President urged the students to widen their opportunity basket and look beyond government jobs. He also cautioned them against being influenced by misinformation by forces inimical to the growth of India and urged them to be wary of them.

Paying tributes to the contribution of Adichunchanagiri educational institutions, the Vice-President said its service to society through more than 500 such institutions, was exemplary and a befitting response to the critics of Sanatana Dharma.

Earlier, the Vice-President launched Digimed, an initiative to integrate digital literacy with medical curriculum.

The initiative stemmed from a realisation that technological advancements were transforming the medical and healthcare industries.

Innovations such as AI, robotics, extended reality, health monitoring devices, portable diagnostic tools, digital therapeutics were set to play a vital role in the future of medicine and the Adichunchanagiri University was integrating digital literacy into its medical curriculum through Digimed to prepare the future doctors for the evolving field, according to varsity authorities.

Nirmalanandanatha Swami, seer of Adichunchanagiri Mutt, said society was living in an age of innovation and technology, and students would be taught the new developments from the first semester itself.

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda paid tributes to the previous seer, the late Balagangadharnath Swami, who was instrumental in establishing the medical college and the university at Bellur decades ago.

He said it was his vision that had transformed into reality and brought growth to rural hinterland.  Mr. Gowda also said that the late seer was worthy of a Bharat Ratna though he was conferred the Padma Bhushan.

The Samvad was not only an interaction with students but also an induction programme for those of first semester MBBS course.

Vice-Chancellor Dr. M.A. Shekar and others were present.

Published - October 25, 2024 09:02 pm IST