India should lead the world in 21st century: Dalai Lama

“An individual can use education either for constructive purpose or destructive propose. To use it in a constructive way,one must have more inner strength and self restraint. If one uses it for destructive purpose then it will be biggest disaster of humanity,” he told the 24th Convocation of IGNOU.

The Dalai Lama was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by IGNOU Vice-Chancellor V Rajasekharan Pillai in the presence of Ministers of State for HRD D Purandeswari and E Ahamed.

Terming India as the “most populated and stable democratic country” in the world,he lavished praise on the country’s “sophisticated culture” and said the ancient traditions followed by Indians are of relevance even in today’s world.

“India has a long tradition and has greater potential and should lead the world through non-violent principles and education plays a big role in shaping a country’s future. Education plays an important role,” he said.

The Tibetan spiritual leader also inaugurated the Tibetan Centre for Studies at the campus and said all important subject matter is taken from the Indian tradition.

“Historically,due to Buddhism spreading in Tibet,we share the guru-disciple relationship. It is all your treasure which we studied,practised and followed the whole life. Now is the time to return to the original source,” he said.

The Dalai Lama said the establishment of the Buddhist centre can show the usefulness of the study of inner science.

“Moral ethics is the basis of happy individual,community and family. Inner stength,honesty and truthfulness are the essence of moral ethics. Like education one should also give importance to moral ethics in life. Basic thing for a human being is moral ethics,” he said.

He said there are around 300 volumes of Buddhist text translated from India,specifically from Pali language and very few from Chinese language.

“These can be summed up under three heads: science,concept and Buddhist religion. Science explains mainly the inner science,mind and emotions to apprise oneself with the reality. Concept explains the absence of independent existence while religion tells us how to pray and maintain contact with the inner realms,” he said.

A total of 1.2 lakh students from across the country received degrees in Delhi and in regional centres.

Purandeswari emphasised upon the low literacy rate among women and said the government is making efforts to bridge the gap between the literacy levels of man and woman.

“Our literacy rate before independence was 18 per cent which has now increased to 65 per cent according to the 2011census. But there is a gap between the literacy level of male and female. This must be bridged,” she said.

The Minister said education must be considered as a leveler to remove the inequalities and noted that no nation can progress leaving half the population behind.

“The multiplier effect must be taken into account,” she said.

Ahamed focused on creating technology enabled distance education with multimodal education delivery.

“Open Distance Learning opened doors for marginalised sections of society. The growth enrolment is only one-fourth of that in the urban areas. It is much lower for the SCs/STs,11% in females and 15% for males,” he said