December 13th, 1952

The universities of modern India have very little in common with ancient or mediaeval centres of learning. It is well known how the British authorities planned the establishments of universities in india about one hundred years ago mainly for their own administrative purposes Western education itself was then visualized as the only pass-port to service and the learned professions, and also the means through which enlightened knowledge could elevate the people belonging to what was said to be a rusty and back-ward civilization. The very system of education which was deemed essential for forging bonds of unbroken alliance with the British power succeeded in unleashing revolutionary ideas and thoughts, which ultimately helped to throw off the yoke of alien rule in India. If we take a dispassionate view of what happened during the last one century, we must acknowledge that this has been an era in which good has been mixed with evil. The contact between the Indian mind and western thought and civilization did not enslave the soul of India. In every domain of thought, in arts and architecture, in science, in history, philosophy and letters, in social services and in religious thought, great Indians gave their best, maintaining their stamp of originality as well as imbibing and assimilating fruits of western skill and knowledge. Though the numbers of Indians affected by suchspread of knowledge was comparatively small, many of them assumed a much-needed political leadership and became the instruments of agitation and mass movements, leading ultimately to the political liberation of their country. The cultural Renaissance preceded and created the silent political Revolution. We must not however overlooking debit side as well. The masses were neglected. Villages were stagnant. Poverty reigned supreme. Elementary education remained in the background. Our languages were undernourished ; specially neglected was that great store-house of Indian knowledge and wisdom, the mother of most of our languages, Sanskrit.The aims and purposes of education were inconsistent with national aspirations. Respect for the noblest features of our great culture and civilization dwindled away due to ignorance and disbelief. The pattern of society based on equality and justice, on contentment, and self-sufficiency, that true education must foster and strengthen, hardly took shape. Can we honestly maintain that after freedom, have we been able to uproot these and other salient defects in our educational system ?

Education must be examined from an organic standpoint. Free india must be able to cater to the needs of all stages of education as parts of one comprehensive national system. There need not be any conflict amongst primary, secondary and university stages, nor amongst literary, scientific technical, vocational and agricultural courses of study. A national system of education must conceive of a balanced structure where due and proper emphasis will be laid on every section so as to maintain its harmony, its strength and solidarity.To-day after freedom the universities must be conscious of much wider conception of their duties and responsibilities than before. There is an urgent need for adequate leadership in the professions, in commerce and industry, in politics and administration. Millions of teachers and workers are needed for institutions of varies types. There awaits the solution of the problem of freeing the masses from want, disease and ignorance There still remain untapped and hidden the vast natural resources and raw materials of India and it will be for the universities to create knowledge and to train minds which could bring together material resources and human energies which lie latent to day.

Let the universities be the mouthpieces of that liberty of thought and expression which a true democracy must uphold. Let our students sweep away the cob-webs of mistrust and of the miasma of hatred from the minds of the people. An eagle alone can train an eaglet. If teachers themselves are partisans and swayed by dogma how can youth be expected to uphold free thought or righteous conduct ? Let us declare that to us justice and liberty are meaningless if they do not include other men and other nations. It is not so much what our students learn, not so much what they know, as what they are which should concern us. Do we love liberty, love it so much that we will fight for it, die for it and will accord it to others as well as claim it for ourselves ? Nations live or die according to the character of the people. Wealth, arms, munitions, disciplined armies and navies and air forces are of splendid service but the character of the people, the character into which the youth is growing, determines the life or death of the nation. ''Liberty'' says Manu the great law-giver of our race, ''is unhappiness and dependence is misery".With our ancient heritage, with the spirit of India still ennobling the mind of man, with our vast resources of manpower and buried wealth, with our undoubted capacity for assimilation of new ideas, let us, irrespective of all differences, make a supreme co-operative effort to raise our motherland to a higher and nobler life of existence, bringing joy and contentment to all and making her a mighty instrument for the maintenance of world peace and freedom.