Naidu calls terrorism as enemy of humanity, peace, and development

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi  : The Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on February 16, 2020, called terrorism as the common enemy of humanity, peace, and development. He also called upon the civil society all over the world to collaborate and create a global consensus at platforms such as UN for strong policy framework against the all forms of terrorism.

Addressing the centennial celebrations of Rotary International in India in Kolkata, Naidu said that peace is a prerequisite to development and everyone should work to curb the menace of terrorism. The Vice President stressed that India believes in peaceful coexistence and wants peace with all its neighbours. Ours is a country that has never invaded any country in our long history, he said and appealed to all countries to come together to eradicate illiteracy and poverty from the world.

Naidu said that NGOs should take lead in the poverty eradication and socio-economic empowerment of the marginalised sections of the society. He asked the civil society organisations to supplement the efforts of the governments for sustainable and inclusive growth. Highlighting that more than 60 percent of Indians still live in villages, Naidu wanted every livelihood project to factor in this aspect and focus on strengthening the rural economy, according to a PIB release.

“Lack of basic amenities and employment opportunities in rural areas are causing forced migration. We should seriously work towards bridging this rural-urban divide,” he said. Expressing concerns over the declining interest among youth to take up agriculture as profession, Naidu asked the organisations like Rotary to train and skill the youngsters to become agri-entrepreneurs. He also stressed the need to encourage the farmers to diversify and take up allied activities like poultry, fisheries, and floriculture.  “It would it would ensure a regular source of income for them,” he added.

Naidu appreciated the good work being done by the Rotary International in the field of education and health services and appealed to all stakeholders to work for a poverty free India. He also called upon the NGO community to work towards a 100 percent literate India by providing much needed essential literacy to adults who missed the literacy bus and getting the street children into the formal school structure.

He also called for modernising the classrooms with electronic blackboards and creating Happy Schools by improving the basic infrastructure in the schools. “Teachers, especially in various government schools need constant training,” he said.

Calling water conservation as the need of the hour, Naidu appealed to everyone to become a partner in the Government’s efforts for water conservation. Noting that the Jal Shakti Ministry plans to build more than one lakh check dams in India in coming five years, he appreciated the Rotary’s move to build more than ten thousand check dams.

Appreciating the role of Rotary in eradicating polio, Naidu said that the history of Polio eradication in India has shown that the government and committed NGOs can forge effective and successful partnerships.

He exhorted the organisations like Rotary to involve schools and colleges in community-service to enable the children develop the spirit of volunteerism and spiritual values from a young age. He even suggested that the New Education Policy must also seek to promote the spirit of volunteerism among the students and also earmark certain marks for such activities.