The Prime Minister also advised the young students that they should have concerns for the deprived, as institutes like IITs were prepared from public funds
Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for equality and social integrity on the platform of digital literacy on Saturday.
He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of IIT-Gandhinagar, after which he launched the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) programme. He also advised students of IIT to be concerned about the poor, whose contribution had enabled them to study at the premier institute.
In his inspirational speech to the students, the PM said, "In western countries, there is a theory by Carl Marks which is very prominent — that of the 'Haves and Have nots'. The political ideology of the west also grew accordingly.
But, cannot afford to adopt it. There should not be digital divide here so that some people in the nation are experts in technology and some remain untouchable or deprived. This is the greatest challenge before us. For social integrity and development, the digital divide should be removed."
"Gandhiji had put stress on literacy for Swaraj (independence). Now, digital literacy is a must for Suraj (good governance). We have resolved to make at least one person digitally literate in 6 crore families residing in rural India. We have to perform the best in this direction by 2022," he added.
The PM started his speech saying that the youth in audience were IITians, and he had two less 'I's, which made him a 'Tean' or a Chaiwala. He also said that it was on the same day, October 7, 2001, when he took over as Chief Minister of Gujarat after the earthquake. He added that he did not know anything on administration and had never seen the Assembly from inside but he had resolved to not to stay back from hard work.
The Prime Minister also advised the young students that they should have concerns for the deprived, as institutes like IITs were prepared from public funds. "This institute is prepared at the cost of Rs1,700 crore and if the money was to be spent after building schools and hospitals for poor people, lakhs of them would benefit. But there is an importance of such institutes also and that is why the government spent on it. This is now your social responsibility to pay back to society with concern for the poor," the PM added.
The Prime Minister also gave a call to the students of IIT-Gandhinagar to accept a challenge to make their institute the top in 500 educational institutes in the world by 2022. He asked the students to work for technological innovation, which could solve problems and issues of common people. He distributed certificates and laptops among PMGDISHA programme beneficiaries.
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