Vice-President at Gandhigram Institute Golden Jubilee

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations and the 39th convocation of the Gandhigram Rural Institute, a deemed to be university at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, on 30 October 2026. He gave away gold medals to meritorious students and told the graduating batch that the road to Viksit Bharat 2047 has to start from strong villages.

What he said about villages

The Vice-President argued that the goal of development is not to turn every village into a town, but to give rural citizens the same quality of infrastructure, public services, livelihood and dignity that a city dweller has. He said India's real strength lies in its villages and that rural development must stay a pillar of national development. He pointed to progress in rural housing, drinking water, electricity, roads, sanitation, agriculture and digital connectivity over the past twelve years, and noted that about 25 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2014 and 2023. He mentioned PM-KISAN, under which an eligible farmer family gets Rs 6,000 a year in three instalments, and said farmers' welfare is tied directly to food security.

Advice to the students

Observing that artificial intelligence, automation and digital technology are changing the nature of work, he asked students to master emerging technologies while building creativity, problem-solving and an enterprising outlook, and to become job creators rather than job seekers. He described the promotion of domestic manufacturing, indigenous technology and local industry as the modern form of Gandhi's Swadeshi. He also urged them to stay away from drugs and to spread awareness in their families and communities.

Honorary doctorates

Honorary doctorates were conferred on three people: Thavathiru Kundrakudi Ponnambala Adigalar, a spiritual leader and Tamil scholar; S. Nambi Narayanan, a former senior aerospace scientist of ISRO; and Professor S. S. M. Sundaram, an academician.

What was launched

The Vice-President inaugurated two new buildings, the Examination and Seminar Halls and the Pushpkunj Heritage Building, and laid foundation stones digitally for three projects: a 22 kV power house with a control room, an academic building for the School of Education, and an academic complex with 30 classrooms. He released the book Inclusivity of India's Ageing Population and unveiled a Golden Jubilee commemorative postage stamp and postal cover. Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Chancellor K. M. Annamalai, Vice-Chancellor N. Panchanatham and Registrar K. Marimuthu were present. The institute was founded by Dr G. Ramachandran and Dr T. S. Soundaram Ramachandran, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.