Dharmendra Pradhan – Union Minister:
Fortunate to inaugurate a gallery on freedom fighters of Tamil Nadu at GRI, Dindigul with Shri Murugan MoS, Dr. K.M. Annamalai, Prof. Gurmeet singh, Dr. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, senior academics, officials of Ministry of Education, my dear students and other distinguished guests.
Grateful to GRI, especially Prof. Dr. V Ragupathy for this commendable effort to establish an important knowledge repository. This gallery on the freedom fighters of Tamil Nadu will serve as an inspiration to the new generations.
I am confident Gandhigram Rural Institute will make all efforts to expand this gallery and exhibition and further contribute towards enriching the knowledge ecosystem of our country.
The GRI had its genesis on 7th October 1947 and expanded to bring knowledge, education and innovation to the soul of India – our villages.
I extend all my support to Gandhigram Rural Institute for bringing it to the national level.
I am happy to learn that there are more number of girl students than boys in the institute and that the medium of learning at GRI is Tamil.
Compliment GRI for promoting learning in mother tongue. GRI is going to show the pathway to the 21st century.
Critical thinking and analytical skills can be more effectively developed in mother tongue/Indian languages.
But, due to long period of colonisation, we have neglected Indian languages and our rich linguistic traditions.
Tamil Nadu has been a society that has created wonders in the field of art, architecture, music, learning and other fields since ancient times.
Foreign language/English was never a pre-requisite in creating these wonders and achieving excellence.
National Education Policy 2020 rooted in Indianness emphasises on learning in mother tongue/Indian languages.
PM Narendra Modi has time and again reinforced that all Indian languages, including Tamil are national languages.
PM @narendramodi has a lot of respect and affinity towards the Tamil culture and people.
To promote the rich Tamil culture, he has also established a chair in the honour of Subramanya Bharti ji at BHU. This is a step towards furthering Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.
It was said the sun never set on the British Empire.
Today, India has become the 5th largest economy and has surpassed the UK.
Today’s India is changing and evolving and assuming leadership position at an unprecedented pace.
21st century is going to be India’s century, it is going to be rural India’s century, young India’s century and a knowledge-based India’s century.
We have to decolonize our minds, get rid of servile attitude and create our own path to achieve greater heights.
Our responsibility is for entire humanity. India has always stood for Vishwa-kalyan. To make a Viksit Bharat and fulfil global responsibilities, our youth have to think on a bigger canvas as well as each of our citizens will have to contribute in India’s growth story.
