Modi hails NEP citing greater space for youth
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said a strong government is responsive rather than restrictive, knows its limitations, and makes “greater space for people and their freedom”, citing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 as an example of ensuring greater freedom for young people. His comment came on the second anniversary of the launch of NEP.
A slew of sectoral reforms undertaken recently has opened up new avenues for citizens, Modi said at the 42nd Convocation of Anna University, Tamil Nadu’s premier technical varsity, in Chennai.
“A strong government does not control everything and everyone. It controls the system’s impulse to interfere. A strong government is not restrictive but is responsive. A strong government does not move into every domain. It limits itself and makes space for people’s talents,” the PM said.
“A strong government’s ability lies in its humility to accept that it cannot know or do everything. This is why you see reforms in every sphere that make greater space for people and their freedom. The new National Education Policy ensures greater freedom for the youth to take decisions according to evolving situations,” he added.
Modi said that in the era of technology-led disruptions, a “strong government” does not interfere and gives freedom, as offered by NEP 2020. He said this in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on stage, a day after they shared the dais for the inauguration the 44th Chess Olympiad.
The state’s DMK government opposed NEP and refused to adopt the three-language formula under the policy, categorically asserting that it will continue to follow the state’s twolanguage system of English and Tamil that has been in place since the 1960s. Stalin’s government is drafting its own state education policy.
The PM also spoke at length about the reforms initiated by his government to boost the economy.
“The scrapping of nearly 25,000 compliances is boosting the ease of living. Removal of angel ( investments) tax, removal of retrospective tax and reduction of corporate tax are encouraging investments and industry,” he said.
He added that reforms in the drone, space and geo-spatial sectors are opening up new avenues for growth while those in the infrastructure sector through the Prime Minister Gati Shakti Master Plan are creating world-class infrastructure at “speed” and “scale”.
“Innovation is becoming a way of life. In just the last six years, the number of recognised start- ups increased by 15,000 per cent. From just 470 in 2016, it is nearly 73,000 now. When industry and innovation do well, investments will follow. Last year, India received a record foreign direct investment of over $83 billion”, he said.
Stalin spoke of his vision for
the state’s education under the Tamil Nadu government’s Dravidian model.
“Education is the only wealth which no one can steal or take away from you. So we believe that there should be no obstruction to education,” the chief minister said.
“Our government’s Dravidian model is to take education forward. The Dravidian ideology of social justice is based on education for everyone,” Stalin said, calling on students to take up higher education and research. He listed the welfare schemes of his own government to increase enrolment in schools and colleges.
“We are bringing in an education revolution. We don’t want to restrict students to just getting degrees but we are also aiding in job opportunities, life skills and societal growth,” Stalin said. He recalled that Tamil Nadu’s higher education institutions scored among the highest in the NIRF rankings and industrial growth.
The chief minister told the graduates that they can proudly tell their children that they were receiving their degree certificates from the Prime Minister.
Higher education minister K Ponmudi spoke of how DMK patriarch and late chief minister M Karunanidhi abolished entrance tests to engineering colleges for the benefit of rural students. Though Ponmudi did not mention the National Education cum Entrance Test (NEET), it was apparent that he defended the Tamil Nadu legislation to abolish NEET.
A bill to that effect is pending with the President’s office.
“Previously only 25,000 rural students were in engineering colleges but it increased to 77,000 rural students in engineering colleges after Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) abolished the entrance exam,” he said.
Later, after the ceremony, the Prime Minister went to multiple classrooms at Anna University to meet graduating students who could not be present at the main venue due to space constraints. In a video shared by the Press Information Bureau, Modi was seen waving to students and extending his best wishes to them.