President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, while addressing a massive rally at Harmohan Paramedical College and Nursing Institute grounds at Meharban Singh Ka Purwa, on Wednesday, said the prominent building blocks of nation building were rural and agricultural development along with gram panchayat.
Emphasising upon the need for development of education, he said a nation could grow with leaps and bounds with the momentum of education. He said Kanpur had parallely carved a niche for itself not only in the field of industrialisation but in the field of education as well and this stood substantiated with the fact that today there was a web of educational institutions equally contributing in the development of India in their own respective ways.
He said Kanpur was well linked with every direction and thus tapping this benefit it had become an educational hub as well. He said in the present circumstances the onus for further development, through education, rested on the people of this city.
Paying tributes to Chaudhary Harmohan, President Kovind gave the credit of educational expansion in the area to the family and hoped they would continue to give further momentum to it. He added that the achievement of the millennium development goals was the centre of sustainable development as sustainable rural development was vital to the economic and social viability of a nation.
He added that similarly a healthy and dynamic agricultural sector was equally an important base of rural development, generating strong linkages to other economic sectors and much rested on the gram panchayats also which were at the helm of affairs.
President Kovind, going down the memory lane, said Chaudhary Harmohanji believed in the spirit of fellowship and camaraderie. He hoped that this fellowship, which was envisioned by Chaudhary Harmohanji, could become a reality and help end the existing wide chasm in the current social system. He said once this was adopted in the true letter and spirit by each and every person then factors like caste, fraternity, denomination, upper and lower would end once for all, giving rise to a new India focused on equality and progress. He hoped that the existing social evil would end, making India like a heaven.
President Kovind said Kanpur was his native place and had a rich cultural and historical heritage and added that it was a matter of concern that the current generation was gradually distancing itself from reality and contributions of many others in the freedom struggle. He said it was ironical that people remember Nanarao Peshwa, Tatya Tope, Rani Laxmibai, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh but they were ignorant of celebrities and patriots like Azizan Bai, Jaidev Kapoor, Shiv Kumar Verma, Vijay Kumar Singh, Dr Gaya Prasad and thus the onus rested on the present generation to create awakening among the future generation to understand and pay due respect to these martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for the nation.
Kovind said he had deep roots in Kanpur as he had been born and brought up and pursued education in this city and finally rose to be the President of India and thus he had deep connections and sentiments for Kanpur to ensure that it made massive development in every sphere and emerge as a living example to the rest of the country.
