Institution of power brokers is dead, says Vice President Dhankhar

New Delhi, 25 Aug (IANS) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said that the most important impact of Chandrayaan-3 was the emergence of India in soft power diplomacy.

“At the time of soft landing, all prominent channels of the world were focussing on it and congratulating us,” Vice President said.

Addressing the 25th Convocation of New Delhi Institute of Management on Friday, the Vice President asked the students to be proud of our stupendous achievements.

“We should be proud Indians. Our glass is half full and a day it’ll be filled to brim. We have to give up negativity,” Vice President said.

Describing the success of Chandrayan-3 as moment of glory for the nation, Vice President said emphasised that, “We are in the big four. It is a matter of time, we’ll be number one.”

Mentioning that the previous Chandrayan-2 mission was 96 percent success, Vice President appreciated the gesture of the Prime Minister who stood as a rock behind the then Director, ISRO and motivated our scientists.

Vice President said that the world looks at India as a bright spot in global economy and as a consequence of several affirmative governmental policies.

“We have an ecosystem now where one gets an opportunity to fully unleash one’s talent and energy. You can achieve your dreams,” Vice President told students.

Stating that the power corridors were have been fully sanitised of power brokers, the Vice President said that: “The institution of power brokers is dead. It can never revive. Transparency and accountability are hallmark of governance and there is zero tolerance for corruption now.”

Stating that our judicial system is very robust, the Vice President said that the culture of taking to streets, when one is booked for transgression of law, must die down.

Talking about the legislature, the Vice President described the conduct of public representatives as dismal.

“As Chairman, Rajya Sabha, I don't see debate, dialogue, discussion. I see disruption,” the Vice President said and called upon the youth to get out of neutral gear; give up your silence and speak out your mind on this issue.

“You have to create a system... in which you will want your representative to exemplify conduct that can be emulated, that can inspire others,” the Vice President said.

Describing education as the only most impactful transformative mechanism to bring about societal change, the Vice President appealed to the youth to give back to the society.

Congratulating the passing out students, he asked them to “never stop learning... never stop gathering knowledge.”

The Vice President also called for a structured mechanism to engage with the alumni of our institutions. Recognising that our alumni are world’s most powerful, impactful reservoir of talent, the Vice President suggested creating a National Confederation of Alumni from all institutions.

“Then in the task of policy formulation, their contribution can be highly qualitative,” the Vice President said.