Need for concerted action to make India safe for women: Vice President

“It is a societal evil that needs to be eradicated with concerted action. We have to usher in a new India where gender equality becomes the norm, where we successfully unleash the full potential of the half-a-billion strong women force,” the Vice President said at the Platinum Jubilee function at the Ethiraj College of Women.

Stating that educated Indian women today are extremely skilful and self-dependent, he said, “They juggle multiple responsibilities with remarkable ease and lives life on their own terms.”

“There is not one sphere of activity where women have not made a place for themselves,” he said, adding that India has the world’s largest number of professionally-qualified women. 

Pointing out that the women in India have started recognising their true potential, Naidu said, “They have excelled in diverse fields ranging from medicine to engineering, civil services to mountaineering, from research and development to flying fighter aircrafts.” 

Further, he said that professions, which were earlier considered to be the forte of men, are now no longer their sole preserve and women frequently outperform their male counterparts with ease and élan.

Asserting that education does not by itself make a person employable, he said that educational institutions must take it upon themselves to impart essential acquirement to students, including crucial life skills required in the knowledge-driven interconnected world of the 21st century. 

He said that schools and colleges must ensure the youth of the country acquire knowledge and skills that enable them to become active contributors to building a new India and a new world. 

“They must ensure that their foundations are strong. What we need is the ability to observe and absorb, to assimilate and articulate, to ask questions and seek answers, and to decipher and discover,” he said, adding that students must have the zeal to discover new fields of knowledge. 

“However, they should always have the ‘ethical compass’ handy all the time to make wise decisions,” Naidu said. Later, he also attended the convocation function at the Presidency College.