Governor slams universities for spawning corruption

PUNE, NOV 19: If you were under the impression that education is the only answer to corruption, then brush that thought aside, as it is th...

PUNE, NOV 19: If you were under the impression that education is the only answer to corruption, then brush that thought aside, as it is the universities in the state which are the 8220;breeding grounds of corruption.8221;

This, from Dr P C Alexander, Governor of Maharashtra. He was speaking at the inaugural function of the SAARC countries conference on 8220;Reverence for all Life.8221;

In a thought-provoking speech, the Governor referred to universities as 8220;temples of learning8221; and maintained that 8220;leakage of papers, converting a third class into a first class overnight, and other malpractices are the order of the day today.8221;

8220;Fraudulent assets are now termed 8220;non performing assets,8221; he said, adding that these have also increased and 8220;the losses are due to the educated, and not the poor, uneducated people of India.8221;

The Governor emphasised that 8220;the only difference between corruption of the educated and that of the uneducated is that, the uneducated rob with the help of a gun and the educated use the pen.8221;

He added that, 8220;no amount of industrial collaborations would help if we did not tackle the problem of corruption with the seriousness it deserves. There is a need to decide once and for all that we will not be corrupt. Else, India will never reach the pinnacle it deserves.8221;

Elaborating on the theme of the conference, he appealed that first reverence should be followed between felllow humans as far as respecting equality of life for all human beings with no distinction on the basis of caste, sex, religion, economic differences. Dignity of the individual should be maintained. Further elaboratiing he said that,8220;the poor man on the streets who does not have the money to treat his sickness, can8217;t afford a meal a day and lives under the poverty line, does not know much about dignity? It is here that dignity needs to be maintained for every individual.8221;

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The other two areas, he mentioned were, 8220;dignity through truth and national integrity8221;.

By national integrity, he said that, 8220;we have to forget our differences based on caste, because this would threaten the very future of civilisation.8221;

Earlier, Dr R A Mashelkar, director-general, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR, in his key-note address warned that, 8220;by the year 2050, 42 per cent of the world8217;s population would live in nations which did not have enough water available for all their needs.8221;

Adding that, 8220;we need to have sustainable consumption based on ecological bounds as we cannot tamper with the future of tomorrow8217;s citizens.8221;

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The function was presided over by Dada J P Vaswani, who said that, 8220;No nation would be totally free unless its animals are free.8221; Adding that, 8220;Animal welfare is not the answer, animal rights is. Let India be the first country to enact rights for animals.8221;

Other speakers at the conference included Vanrai president Mohan Dharia ETH chairman Dr Vijay Bhatkar.