Govt can’t give jobs to everybody: VP Naidu

Belagavi: When opposition parties are targeting the Modi government for failing to keep its 2014 pollprmise of creating jobs, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu said governments can’t give employment to everybody, adding that politicians make promises during elections that are practically not possible.
He was speaking at the 9th convocation of KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (KAHER), a deemed-to-be university here on Thursday.
“The best way to empowering people is education. Education is for the enlightenment, enhancement of knowledge and at last for employment. Unfortunately, people are looking it in the reverse direction,” he said.
Politicians in the country developed a mind-set among the people that everything is done by the government, he added.
Naidu said there are many challenges before the country even after seven decades of independence. “About 22% of the country’s people are still living under the poverty line, 22% people don’t know how to read and write, still women and girl children are discriminated besides deep-rooted social discrimination. This all cannot be done away by the government alone without public contribution,” he said.
Naidu said government programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Swachha Bharat, Digital India etc., will succeed only when they become people’s movements. “I am happy that the mind-set of people is changing. Parents are sending their girls to schools and it needs to encourage further. Swachha Bharat is not a government or political programme. It’s a social movement. Swachhata is for your body, not for Modi. It’s a campaign of cleaning the country and our minds too. Youngsters should be at the forefront of these movements,” Naidu said.
The Vice President advised the newly qualified doctors to treat patients with empathy and not just sympathy.
He said 60% population of the country still lives in rural areas despite huge migration towards urban areas. “The real need of healthcare facilities is in rural areas. I feel the Medical Council of India or the health ministry should make it mandatory for all newly qualified doctors to serve in rural areas for three years. It’s the need of the hour. It’s a reality that doctors don’t go to rural areas unless it is made mandatory,” he said.
Naidu also advised youths to take care of their parents, native place, mother-tongue, motherland and to practise the culture of the land. “Patriotism is nothing but doing your duty,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naidu conferred gold medals to top performing students. MBBS final year student Dr Abhishrey Raj bagged the highest three gold medals in MBBS general surgery department while MBBS final year student Dr Saloni Gupta bagged two gold medals in general medicine.
Chancellor and Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore and vice-chancellor Dr Vivek Saoji were on the dais.