PM urges UP to get on road to development

Singh was delivering the convocation address after being awarded Doctor of Letters Honaris Causa at the 90th convocation of Banaras Hindu University on Saturday.

Singh, signalling an important message to UP, described it as once being a leader on the development front, be it in the form of Varanasi, a prime centre of education, or Kanpur, once an industrial hotspot.

8220;I want UP to become the nucleus of our knowledge society. All universities, including BHU, have a seminal role to play for bringing UP back on track of development.8221;

Chanting his party8217;s development mantra for UP, the PM said, 8220;I want UP to be at par with most developed regions of the country so that benefits of modernisation and development could permeate to one and all8221;.

Singing paeans about his Government8217;s achievements, Singh said, 8220;Never in the history of independent India has the GDP growth of 9 per cent achieved, as during the past four years. For attaining a truly sustainable development, however, the country needs to have a robust economy, strong science and technology sector and also a security structure which guards its against internal and external adversaries.8221;