Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Centenary Celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 22, 2020, through video conference. He also released a postal stamp commemorating the event.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled Sir Sayyad’s remark that the ‘the first and foremost duty of one who is concerned about his country is to work for the welfare of all people irrespective of the caste, creed or religion.’
The Prime Minister stressed that the country is proceeding on a path where every citizen is assured of his or her constitution-given rights, no one should be left behind due one’s religion and this is the basis of the pledge ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabk viswas’.
PM Modi gave examples of the government schemes providing benefits without any discrimination. Bank accounts of over 40 crore poor are opened without any discrimination. More than 2 crore poor were provided pucca houses without discrimination. More than 8 crore women are getting gas connection without discrimination. About 50 crore people have availed free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman scheme without any discrimination. “Country’s resources belong to each and every citizen and should benefit all, ” said Prime Minister Modi.
The Prime Minister lauded Aligarh Muslim University for the unprecedented contribution to the society during the Corona pandemic. He added getting thousands of people to do free tests, building isolation wards, building plasma banks, and contributing a large amount to the PM Care Fund shows the seriousness of fulfilling your obligations to society.
The Prime Minister said that in the last 100 years, AMU has also worked to strengthen India’s relations with many countries of the world. He said the research done here on Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages, research on Islamic literature, gives new energy to India’s cultural relations with the entire Islamic world. He said the University has the double responsibility to further enhance the soft power of the university as well as fulfilling the obligation of nation building, according to a PIB release.
The Prime Minister recalled a time when the dropout rate of Muslim daughters was more than 70 percent due to lack of toilets. He said the government built separate toilets for the school-going girl students in mission mode under Swachh Bharat Mission. And now the school dropout rate of Muslim daughters has come down to about 30 percent. He lauded the “Bridge courses” being run for school dropout students by the Aligarh Muslim University. In the last 6 years, nearly one crore Muslim daughters have been given scholarships by the government, the PM said.
The Prime Minister said the country took forward the efforts to build a modern Muslim society by ending the practice of triple talaq. Education brings with it employment and entrepreneurship. An empowered woman contributes equally to every decision, at every level, as much as anyone else, he said.
The Prime Minister said AMU has attracted many from its contemporary curriculum in higher education. He said New National Education Policy has Interdisciplinary subjects similar to one already taught at the university.
The Prime Minister said the government is also continuously working to increase the number of enrollments and increase seats in higher education. Whether education is online or offline, he said that the Government is working to ensure that it reaches everyone and changes everyone’s life.
The PM urged the 100 hostels of AMU to perform an extracurricular task on this occasion of 100 years, in line with the 75th anniversary of India’s freedom, to research about the lesser known freedom fighters.