Shri Sathyanath Shenoy, President, Rotary Club, Kanhangad,
Swami Muktananda, Spiritual Head, Ananda Ashram
Dr. E.K. Ummer, Rotary District Governor,
Shri Venugopalan Nambiar, Chairman, ‘Vital for India’ & Programme Committee Chairman,
Smt. Rema Narayanan, Principal, Sadguru Public School
Shri Gajanan Kamath, Bhuvanendra Eduacation Trust, Kanhangad
Respected Teachers, My beloved Students,
Madhyama Suhruthukkale,
Sahodaree Sahodaranmare,
Ellavarkkum Ente Namaskaram.
I am very happy to address you at the Valedictory function of theAwareness Campaign on Fundamental Duties, organized by Rotary Club of Kanhangadand ‘VITAL for India’.
Let me at the outset, compliment the Rotary Club and ‘VITAL for India’ for organizing this campaign with the participation of students from 20 schools. The Rotary International, which brings socially committed individuals from varied fields under one umbrella, has been serving humanity since 1905. Thanks to the farsighted vision of its founders, the Rotary Movement has been successful in helping the poor and the sick, and sharing friendship and fellowship. It has now grown into a global organization having more than thirty thousand clubs spread over nearly 200 countries.
I am informed that ‘VITAL’, which stands for Value Integrated Teaching and Learning has been helping to promote value-based education for the all-round growth of students and teachers.
As we all know, children are the greatest assets of any nation. They are the foundation on which we shall build a strong, vibrant and dynamic India. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our Nation believed that the law of love could be best understood and learned through children. He also believed that, if we were to teach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with the children.
By making our children aware of their rights and responsibilities, we are actually strengthening the building blocks of the future of our nation. In our society, there is a tendency to be more concerned about our rights rather than our responsibilities. Through today's programme, we were highlighting the importance of our duties as citizens, because a generation that is fully aware of its duties will be better equipped to enjoy its rights more meaningfully.
Before going further, I would just remind you about the FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES mentioned in our Constitution. According to Article 51A, it shall be the duty of every citizen of India –
(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;
(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;
(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;
(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional of sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;
(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;
(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement;
(k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.
I would also suggest some Additional duties. Soon, when you grow up, you will be eligible to vote in elections. So, you have aDuty to Vote.
When you start earning, you will start hearing about Taxes and as citizens, we have a Duty to pay taxes.
I may also remind you about the citizen's Duty to help accident victims. The Supreme Court has given clear orders stating that a person helping an accident victim cannot be harassed or questioned by Police or other authorities. In our present circumstances, we also have a Duty to keep the premises clean, to prevent civil wrongs, to protect whistle-blowers who highlight issues like corruption, tosupport bona fide civil society movements and finally, a duty to Reinvigorate civic responsibility in people around us.
As I said earlier, we are more interested in rights than in Duties. However, when it comes to children, we also have the responsibility to make them fully aware of their rights as children. I must also say that your generation is more fortunate than the generations of people like me, because, in our childhood, we had very little idea about our rights as children. In those days, we accepted whatever was offered to us by elders, thinking that we were entitled to rights only after growing up as adults.
Most of you would be aware of some of the Child Rights that cannot be denied in any Institution. For example, every school should have one toilet for every 25 girls and 40 boys. You must also be aware of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, which works to ensure the rights of children. That Commission strictly monitors the implementation of the Right to (Free and Compulsory) Education [RTE] Act 2009 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act 2012 etc., I hope Rotary and VITAL for India would also concentrate on making children aware of Child Rights.
The idea of rights and duties will kindle the spark of leadership in every child. A well informed child will grow up believing that leadership does not confer authority, but a lot of responsibility which requires adherence to ethical behavior.
We need young leaders who would uphold values and ethical practices in every sphere of activity and therefore, this campaign on fundamental duties is a good beginning.
I sincerely hope that all students sitting here would also keep in mind their role as citizens who would give equal priority to fundamental duties along with fundamental rights throughout their lives.
The Rotary club of Kanhangad has been doing a great service through projects like Vocational Training Centre, Special School for the Differently Abled etc. While complimenting them, I would also remind them about imparting information about the rights provided to the Disabled to the parents of such children. We also could think of encouraging the institutions around us to be more friendly to the disabled by ensuring facilities that would make mobility easy for them.
I wish the members of Rotary Club and ‘VITAL for India’ all the best and compliment the organizers for conducting this function in a befitting manner.
Ellavarkkum Ente Aashamsakal
Nanni
Jai Hind