Let children choose a career they like, dont be too demanding: Vice President to students parents

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar today expressed his disapproval of the parents who are very demanding with their kids and push them to “become civil servants or engineers when the child actually wants to become a musician or photographer.”

Speaking to a group of students from Kerala who called on him at Upa-Rashtrapati Niwas today, the Vice President said that  “parents want to live their life through their children. That is not good. There is an achievement in every walk of life.” These students were winners of the Mann Ki Baat Quiz Competition organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in Thiruvananthapuram.

2047@Bharat, you will realise your dreams and will ensure that India in 2047, will be at its peak, a global leader. Historically we have been global leaders, in the past; when this happens, it will constitute a stabilizing factor for the world at large. I want you to get an idea and feel of the change that has taken place over the years. You will see a different arena, these things were not there earlier, like the PM Museum, the Convention Centre. The new Parliament building is a marvel of the world, built in less than 30 months, and it was complete even in the face of COVID. Look at the change that has taken place, what used to be Rajpath is now Kartavya-path. It is a ground reality. Everything is now on your shoulders, everything has to be delivered by you. I am sure the Honorable Minister will take care of you. 

For the youngsters, after more than three decades, our Bharat has a National Education Policy, that evolved after taking inputs from hundreds and thousands of people. I was Governor in the state of West Bengal, I am personally aware of it. Now it is not degree oriented, it is skill oriented. You can simultaneously get two degrees, it helps to fully exploit your potential. I will give you some tips: Never have tension, never have stress, never fear.  If you have one good idea and out of fear you don’t execute that idea, due to fear of failure then the world is deprived of your talent. No one has landed on the moon in the first attempt. Archimedes also when he said eureka, it was not his first attempt. Competitiveness should be in mind, compete with yourself and not others. 

I was the topper of the class throughout. I was always under question about what will happen if I don’t come at number one. I was always worried and I made the obsession that if I don’t come number one the heavens will fall. Remember, historically, the heavens have never fallen. They are not going to fall for you. If they have never fallen for thousands and thousands of years, they are not going to fall for you. I understood too late in my life that if I didn’t have an obsession for coming no. 1, I would have more time to spend with my friend, taking more time for my habit, hobby, inclination and my aptitude.

Parents are very demanding. They are demanding very unreasonably. They want to live their life through us and that is not good. In every walk of life, there will be an achievement. These are the things which you must know as per your aptitude. Secondly, there is no limit to your rise in India now. If you have an idea in your mind, share that idea with your friends and don’t fear failing.

Three things you must not be aware of because you are at that age. I was a minister 34 years ago. I know a situation in, we had to sell physical gold outside to sustain our credibility because our foreign reserves were less. Now the situation has changed. We are the fastest-growing economy in the world and how come we have done it? Earlier in power corridors there used to be power brokers, and middlemen. Now the power corridors have been fully cleared and totally sanitized of power brokers. Corruption is the greatest enemy of the common man. Corruption deprives you of equality and opportunity. Corruption impedes our development. There is no corruption now in governance as things are improving massively from top to bottom.

As young citizens of this country, your contribution is important. There was a time when people used to go abroad, they used to eat bananas but they never threw it out of the window, they maintained discipline, they maintained decorum. But those very citizens when they come back to India they took it as their fundamental right to throw the banana skin on the road. That changed now when the PM initiated Swach Bharat Abhiyan. We still have to be disciplined on the road. We have created many highways, four-lane highways but we don’t maintain discipline. Some people who are wealthy, have more money but they don’t have a right merely because they have more money you will spend more money on petroleum. The utilisation of natural resources has to be optimal. We have to discourage the habit of anyone that I will spend more petrol because I can afford it. That is not good. Optimal utilisation of natural resources, we have to insist on that. If we save energy, we save the environment. If we save paper, we save the environment. If we save water, we are doing a service to society.