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Focus on Swadeshi innovations: VP in Srinagar
The Vice President of India was in Srinagar to attend 21st convocation ceremony of University of Kashmir on Thursday
The Vice President (VP) of India, CP Radhakrishnan, on Thursday urged the students to focus on Swadeshi innovations and let go of its colonial mindset to emerge as a global leader of innovation.
“As graduating students, I urge you all to focus on Swadeshi innovations, solutions that are rooted in Indian knowledge, resources and needs. True Atmanirbhartha comes when our innovations reflect our nation’s identity and serve our people.We need not be worried. We need not feel inferior. We have to throw out our colonial mindset first,” he said.
The VP, while delivering an address on the 21st convocation ceremony of Kashmir University, started with his gratitude to the nation saying “I touch and salute the holy feet of Bharat Mata, the most powerful and the most merciful”. On the stage were present J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, chief minister Omar Abdullah, education minister Sakina Itoo and vice chancellor of Kashmir University Nilofar Khan.
He also attempted to greet the Kashmiri dignitaries in the native language “tuh chuva warai (how are you)’”eliciting applause from the audience.
Considering the fact that majority of the gold medals and PHDs at the convocation went into the kitty of women students, the VP said, “One, our education minister of the state is a woman. Second, the vice-chancellor of our university is also a woman. Third, the majority of the gold medals go to our girl graduates,” he said.
Out of 249 gold medals, 186 were achieved by women students. Similarly, 108 out of 164 PHDs were awarded to women.
Radhakrishnan said that the students need to adopt and equip themselves to the modern changes. He said that India was no longer only an adopter of technology. “We are emerging as innovators of technology and that is the great change that India is undergoing now in these years now,” he said.
He said that when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call to all the scientists of the country to come out with the vaccination for COVID, how many of the people believed in it. “But we found the best vaccination and that has worked very well for the entire humanity,” he said.
Stressing on the need to respect the sentiments of others to create friendships across regions, cultures and languages, he said, “We are democrats. We can be proud of our sentiments, no problem in that.That doesn’t mean we should degrade the sentiments of others, it’s not good. And no democrat will do that. It has created friendship across regions, cultures and languages.It has ensured that talent is not limited by geography alone,” he said.
Radhakrishnan said he wanted to tell the students three lines: “Mera Kashmir nahi, tumhara Kashmir nahi, Hamara Kashmir. That is what I want from all of you.”
J&K LG Manoj Sinha, while addressing the students, said that nothing can be a more powerful statement in new India than girl students taking away the majority of medals.
“I am happy that out of 249 gold medals, 186 were received by girls and out of 164 PHDs, 108 have gone to girls. This is not an ordinary statistic but a message that when girls are provided the opportunity, encouragement and independence to work at an equal pedestal, they not only participate but also lead,” he said.
Sinha said that the country has invested a lot in the students’ education through the infrastructure and the sacrifices by teachers. “We hope that in nation building , you will put it to the best use,” he said.
“At the same time, I also want you to have a firm resolve of keeping ‘nation first’ . The determination should be more intense than personal success or career. It will decide the direction of your decisions...My mantra to you is ‘one purpose, one priority country first’. Always remember when you build the country, the nation builds you back ,” he said.
In his address at the convocation, pro chancellor KU and J&K CM Omar Abdullah said that J&K is fast becoming a hub of innovations.
“For too long our economy was viewed through a narrow prism, we were just tourism or just agriculture but the J&K of 2026 is becoming a hub of innovations and participatory governance. We have faced hurdles. We have faced the trauma of 2025 and the economic setback that followed. But like the feed that must endure darkness of the soil to become a tree, our resilience has defined us,” he said.
He also expressed pride that girls have led from the front, securing nearly 60% of the degrees and medals out of the total 60,000 awarded. “To the women graduates today, you are not just the future of your families, you are the architects of our social fabric... Your brilliance is the gold medal J&K wears today,” he said.
While talking about the environment in which the outgoing graduates work, Omar said that development requires the “oxygen of peace”.
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