Good evening, all of you!
Looking at the sparkle in your eyes, your overall academic credentials leave no doubt that you will turn out to be the best in your service and serve the nation.
When I heard each of you, I rolled back five-six decades to my days at Sainik School. We all come from humble and modest backgrounds but made our way through a persistent mechanism.
I noticed each one of you had an option. If you would have not got into the service, each one had an equally lucrative job to perform by virtue of your credentials. Therefore, joining the service is with an element of sacrifice. It is a godsent opportunity to be at the service of 1.4 billion people, home to one-sixth of humanity.
I know for a fact that material gains are important because they help you to survive, beyond that it is the satisfaction to serve the motherland. To be at the service of mother India generates a sublime ecosystem and you are part of it.
You will be involved in fast changing activities, no entity in the country holds such a large land bank and you are custodians of it, but your job does not end there as the world is changing very fast. Your innovative ideas, farsightedness and contributions will leave a mark. One over-simplified step would be to manage the Estate, to see that there are no encroachments, and the legal issues are well handled. Second is how to bring your step in that landmass. Using technology and horticulture you can do wonders in the land.
Land is nature’s greatest gift that keeps close to the ground. If each of you and every member of your service resolve that every inch of defence land will be exploited for betterment of nature, then you can generate an ecosystem whereby every inch will be remembered by the future generations.
Tree plantation, medicinal plantation and herbal plantation will generate interest in the people living there. I am sure with each of you having expertise from engineering to medicine, from management to arts, you are well equipped and I would make an appeal to you, that have an idea but don't allow that idea to harbour in your mind. If you park a great idea only in your mind, you are doing an injustice to humanity. Implement and execute that idea, then you will be contributing not only to the state of defence but will also be serving Maa Bharati. If we go into our cultural ethos, our historical backgrounds we will be finding that Bharat has always been nature loving.
The wealth comes from nature, everything is created from nature. Research is generated from nature. Hence there can be no larger opportunity than the one you will make available.
We are proud of our defence forces, the best of Human Resource gets there. If we involve the defence personnel in some interesting nature pursuits, I am sure you will do much more than my expectations.
You are lucky that you are living in a time when India's image globally is on the rise. We are reckoned as the fastest growing large economy in the world. In September 2022, we overtook Great Britain and became the fifth largest economy of the world. By the turn of the decade, we will be the third largest economy. In 2047, when India will be celebrating the centenary of its independence, you will have the satisfaction of seeing Bharat at the top.
One thing you will find all over the world is that Indian genius is premium, Indian genius is at the front line of not only national but global development. Therefore, beyond doubt, I can say that by 2047, Bharat will be number one.
Look at the present scenario, some of us do not take pride in the potential and real time accomplishments of this country. In 2022, if you look at the digital transfer of money by US, UK, France and Germany and multiply that number by four, that is Bharat's digital transfer. It is because of talent like you, who are taking it forward from rural areas to the metros.
We, Indians, are very quick to skill ourselves. There is formalized skilling thus development is geometrical. We have something in us, we believe in self-skilling and self-schooling, that is why such achievement has been there. Today we have 700 million internet users and per capita data consumption last year was more than that of US and China taken together. Why should we not take pride in these achievements? In COVID, India was making food available to 800 million people from April 2020.
We are a forward-looking nation, to have a look in a rear view mirror is a lopsided, short sighted approach to look at the ground reality. Saying that India's Rise is not taking place is like being an ostrich, not seeing the reality. Our rise is in the figures and in the common man's satisfaction.
When you are marching ahead, never carry the baggage of yesterday on your shoulders. If you do that, chances are your progress will be impeded. You have to look in the rear-view mirror because then you know those who are not well-disposed to our nation, those who are out to taint, tarnish and destroy our institutions. We come to notice them. You look in the rear-view mirror only to avoid someone who is determined to create an accident. But we look ahead to realise the visions, aspirations, welfare and good of humanity. And that is what is happening in India at the moment.
You will find people in and out of the country trying to calibrate us, we cannot allow others to calibrate us. The rise of India is indigestible in some quarters because this country believes in the peace and harmony of all nations. Indian policies are very clear, our visionary Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said, “War is no solution to any problem”. He also said that, “We are not living in an era of expansion”.
Could you ever imagine that a building of such size and dimensions as the new Parliament could be ready in two and a half years? The entire culture of the country is reflected in the new building. It is not just a structure that has come up in less than two and a half years. What has taken place is indeed much more.
This service is an envy of many others as all your life, you will be living in a very disciplined environment, close to nature and interacting with the human resource.
I would wish each of you great success in your career and would make one appeal, whatever may be the challenge, always keep your Nation first. This is not optional, this is the only way.
Thank You, Jai Hind!
