JNU degrees not just individual achievements but also responsibility towards society: Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday told graduating students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that the degrees of the varsity are not just individual achievements but also a responsibility towards society.

Delivering his address at the university's convocation, the minister said the JNU has built a strong and distinctive legacy of academic excellence through decades of sustained academic contribution, and it continues to remain among the country's premier universities by upholding academic autonomy within a vibrant interdisciplinary ecosystem, where critical thinking forms the core of its ethos.

The minister's visit to the campus comes days after some students allegedly raised "provocative" slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah inside the JNU campus. "JNU degrees are not individual achievements but also a responsibility towards the society.

The graduating students are expected to uphold and further strengthen JNU's legacy of inclusivity , social justice and responsibility, serve as the voice of the marginalised, and actively contribute to reducing inequalities in society," he said. Pradhan underlined that JNU graduates would play a decisive role in nation-building.

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He said that many would drive innovation and entrepreneurship by building start-ups and unicorns, while several would shape the nation's intellectual discourse as writers, journalists and thought leaders.

"The nation expects them to make an active, positive and meaningful contribution towards realising Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat – 2047," he said.

On January 5, some students allegedly raised "provocative" slogans against Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah inside the JNU campus after the Supreme Court denied bail to activists and former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.