Graduates urged to follow in leaders' footsteps

Updated on: Monday, September 05, 2011

Former Member of Parliament Era. Sezhiyan has appealed to graduates to follow in the footsteps of leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, who adopted ethical principles in public life. He was delivering the convocation address at the 26th annual convocation of VIT University here on Saturday.

Mr. Sezhiyan cited an instance in the life of Nehru when a bill for Rs.4,000 for the stay of his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit (then president of the United Nations General Assembly) in the government guest house in Shimla was presented to him for payment by the then Chief Minister of PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union) Bhim Sen Sachar. On coming to know that Vijayalakshmi Pandit had stayed in the guest house at the invitation of the Governor of PEPSU without the knowledge of the Chief Minister, Nehru offered to settle the bill. On finding that he did not have sufficient money in his bank account, he gave a cheque for Rs.1,000 advance, with the assurance that he would send the balance. When the Governor came to know about this, he directed the authorities to meet the expenditure out of his discretionary fund and to return the cheque to Nehru. “Such were the norms of political morality and purity of administration in the days of Jawaharlal Nehru. However, after the tenure of Nehru, there were many instances of rapid decline of morality in public life from those in power at the Centre and in the States, which percolated down below in all walks of life,” Mr. Sezhiyan said.

G. Viswanathan, Chancellor, stressed the need for a national policy for the youth in the light of the need to expand avenues of higher education in tune with the recommendations of the Sam Pitroda Commission for the creation of 1,500 universities in the country to provide higher education to all those aspiring for it. Mr. Sezhiyan presented gold medals to 45 graduates, while Mr. Viswanathan presented the degrees to them.

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