Varsities can be agents of social justice: Vice President Hamid Ansari

Mysuru: Universities can be agents of social justice and can foster fraternity and help build an egalitarian society, said Vice President Hamid Ansari.

Delivering the valedictory of address of the year-long centenary celebrations of University of Mysuru (UoM) here on Friday, Mr Ansari said that in the last few decades, more importance has been given to economic development. But to see universities as instruments to secure economic benefits would be a fundamental error and would be akin to diminishing them. One role of a university is to prepare knowledge that an unpredictable future may need, he said.

Governor Vajubhai Vala said universities must produce students who have courage and character which helps in the evolution of a nation. CM Siddaramaiah recalled his student days as an alumnus of the varsity and said it had a student centric and scholarly atmosphere.

Mr Ansari presented Sir M Visvesvaraya centenary award, Dr S Radhakrishnan centenary award and Prof C.N.R. Rao Award to Isro chairman, Prof. A.S. Kiran Kumar, former Governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, and Honorary Director of Centre for Human Genetics, Prof Sharath Chandra respectively.

He unveiled an eight-feet bronze statue of Krishnaraja Wadiyar in front of Crafford hall, the bust of Sir Visvesvaraya in the same hall and the statue of Lord Buddha under the banyan tree in Manasagangotri premises.