Nainital (Uttarakhand) [India], June 27 (ANI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday urged students to set goals beyond personal success and dedicate themselves to the nation and society.

Addressing the 156th Founders' Day celebration at Sherwood College in Nainital, he said, 'Don't have a narrow or self-centred goal, have a goal for society, for humanity, for the nation.'

He called on the youth to adopt the spirit of 'Nation always first' and uphold a sense of nationalism that is unconditional, saying it is the minimum expected of citizens of a country with 5,000 years of civilizational depth like Bharat.

'You will have to imbibe a spirit, Nation always first. We will have to subscribe to nationalism without qualification, unrestricted, because that is what Bharat, a unique nation with 5,000 years of civilizational depth, deserves minimum,' he added.

He said that accessibility and affordability of quality education are fundamentals for any democratic nation to achieve.

'Quality education, its accessibility and affordability are fundamentals for any democratic nation to achieve. Education is a gift of God. If you get a quality education, you are lucky. If you get this kind of education in a nation of 1.4 billion, you are privileged in the right sense. Education is a great equaliser. Equality in law or otherwise can be optimally and best secured only through education. Education hits very hard at inequities, injustice, and that's what you are going to do all your life', he added.

Dhankhar also urged parents not to impose their ambitions on their children, cautioning that such pressure could limit the nation's future in science, research, and innovation.

He said, 'Parenthood is the most important obligation you owe not only to your children but to the entire humanity. And so, please do not stress your children. Don't decide what their object in life is. If you decide, all of them will end up being in pursuit of money, in pursuit of power. Where would we have scientists? Where would we have astronomers? Where would we have people who define destiny for the entire globe?'

He said that Bharat is no longer just a country with potential but one that is steadily rising, with remarkable progress in infrastructure and the economy over the past decade.

He urged students to carry this momentum forward, stating that the goal of becoming a developed nation 'Viksit Bharat' is not just a dream but a destination.

'In this century, we are not only to literate people. Literacy mattered long ago in Bharat. Bharat today is no longer a nation with potential. No. As your potential is exploited to your great advantage by the hand-holding attitude of your faculty members, similarly, Bharat is no longer a nation with potential. This nation's potential is being exploited day after day. It is a nation on the rise. The rise is continual. The rise is incremental. And if I look at the last decade, at a global benchmark, the economic rise of India has been exponential. Infrastructure growth has been phenomenal. Among the large economies, we are the fastest-growing. The last decade for Bharat has been a decade of development, a decade of growth, a decade of finding a new place in the global order. And that being so, you have to take it forward now because a developed nation status, 'Viksit Bharat', as we call it, is not our dream, it is our destination,' he added. (ANI)