Vice President urges citizens to do away with single-use plastics
INN/Guwahati, @Infodeaofficial
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has called upon the citizens to do away with single-use plastics and clean local communities of littered plastics.
Speaking at the 150th Birth Anniversary of Shri Dharmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty at the Centenary Auditorium, University of Madras in Chennai today, he referred to the call given by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to end single-use plastics and said “I think it is a very welcome appeal”.
Urging the citizens to support it, he said “It will be our humble tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. It will be in consonance with the ideals espoused by Shri Calavala Cunnan Chetti Garu,” he added.
Paying glowing tributes to Dharmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty for the philanthropic work undertaken by him during the pre-Independence time, Shri Naidu complimented the Trustees for earnestly carrying forward his legacy and noble vision for the welfare of the society.
The Vice President said that Shri Calavala Cunnan Chetty singularly took up the mission of social upliftment of society when the country was under colonial rule and there were hardly any social welfare schemes run by the Government.
He opined that it was necessary to recognize the contribution of wealth creators and wealth distributors like Chetty guru who not only provide revenue to the Government and create jobs, but also contribute to social good.
The Vice President said that all business enterprises have a social context and referred to earmarking of 2 per cent of their profitis for CSR activities by bigger companies.
Lauding the commendable support given by certain corporate bodies to the Swachch Bharat mission and for promotion of socially relevant programmes, Shri Naidu said that much more needs to be done. The CSR projects must be result oriented and community-driven so that it becomes a sustainable movement.
Pointing out that world over the phenomenon of socially relevant business was growing, he said global corporations have set up Foundations to carry forward philanthropic work.
Stressing the need to imbibe the values of charity, empathy, compassion, and voluntarism in students from an early age, he said that schools and educational institutions must empower students to grow into ideal citizens of the society who would be responsive and responsible towards larger community.
Observing that schools must become resource centers for the local community, Shri Naidu said that they should do voluntary community work and must focus on issues like social and gender justice, family health, cleanliness, child labour, environmental protection and preservation of natural resources.
Opining that language was the medium of expression of our thoughts and emotions and that the literature in each language was rich and varied, Shri Naidu wanted people to learn as many languages as possible without neglecting their own mother tongue.
“Our languages can bring us together. They will help us increase our own knowledge and lead to wider appreciation of diverse ideas,” he added.
Observing that it was essential to make the medium of instruction, at least upto Class 5 in the local language or mother tongue to make education inclusive and universal, Shri Naidu said that such a step would help young minds to grasp concepts easily.
He called for steps to encourage the use of Indian languages in education by providing quality books and recruiting Indian language teachers wherever feasible.
He also released a postal stamp to commemorate the centenary year.
The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Banwarilal Purohit, the Minister for Fisheries and Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Tamil Nadu, Shri Jayakumar, the Chief Postmaster General, Shri M. Sampath, the President of Darmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty Charities, Shri M. Venkatesaperumal and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.