December 13, 2024 06:55 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess | Devendra Fadnavis meets PM Modi amid suspense over Maharashtra portfolio allocation | Congress wants to deviate the issue of Sonia Gandhi-George Soros link: JP Nadda | Bengaluru techie suicide: Atul Subhash's family demanded Rs. 10 lakh as dowry leading to my father's death, claims estranged wife | Syria rebels torch tomb of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's father | Donald Trump vows to eliminate birthright citizenship after taking charge | No alliance with Congress in Delhi polls: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal

Most outstanding trait of presidency its ability to question, discuss and debate every dogma, says President

| | Jan 21, 2017, at 02:23 am
New Delhi, Jan 20 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Bicentenary celebrations of Presidency University on Friday in Kolkata.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said the Presidency University is not merely a collection of buildings or an expression of language.

The University stands for advancement, progress, thinking and questioning. The early students of the Hindu school from which the College and later the University emerged were known for their liberal thoughts, ideas, and philosophy as well as opposition to all prejudice. 

The President said the Presidency College gave birth to and nurtured generations of students who went on to influence and change the course of our country’s history.

What is most remarkable is that this institution which was established primarily to educate the lower bureaucracy of the colonial rulers, went on to not only question and reform everything archaic, but also emerged as the hot bed of ant colonial ideas and actions. 

The President said established as a place for liberal, scientific and secular education based on western ideas of nationalism, this College became the institutional as well as intellectual manifestation of Bengali renaissance. Although Presidency continuously upheld academic excellence, its most outstanding trait lay in its ability to question, discuss and debate every established dogma.  Be it socio-religious beliefs, political construct or ideological tenets, Presidency as an institution always dwelt upon the thesis and the anti thesis before arriving at the synthesis, that suited our nation the most.

The President said as a great institution of modern world, Presidency’s biggest achievement has been its ability to inculcate a love for learning. Not just learning that is contained within the scope of the text books and syllabus, but knowledge that is acquired by plunging into the depths of subjects. 

It is this eternal pursuit that produced luminaries such as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Anandaram Barooah in literature.  S N Bose, M N Saha, P C Mahalnobish, Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, Shyamal Sengupta and Ashoke Sen in the field of basic Science.  Amartya Sen and Sukhamoy Chakraborty in the field of economics and alumnus such as Dr Rajendra Prasad (The President of India), Muhammed Ali of Bogra (Prime Minister of Pakistan) and Abu Sayeed Chowdhury (The President of Bangladesh). The President said he was happy that this rich tradition is continuing and expressed the hope that it will continue to flourish. 

The President said students should not become mere salesman for commercial products but should contribute to research, innovation and enhancement of knowledge.

He expressed concern over the fact that none from an Indian University has won the Nobel Prize since Sir CV Raman and few Indian universities find a place in the top of international ranking of Universities.

He said as Visitor of 126 Central Institutions, he has been asking institutions of higher learning to focus on research and innovation as well as improving their international rankings. 


He concluded calling upon Presidency University to become the number one university of the country and to get a top position in international rankings.

Image: twitter.com/RashtrapatiBhvn

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.