Talk on the 04th Convocation of JNCU (Jan Nayak Chandrashekhar University) by Professor Y.S. Rajan

Hon'ble Governor of UP and Chancellor of JNCU, members of the Academic Council and the Governing Council, Faculty, Staff, Deans, Students and Parents/Guardians. Let me congratulate all those who are being awarded degree today. It is an honour for me to be invited to deliver this address. I have been in the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India in DST when Jananayak Chandrashekhar ji was PM. I have met him a number of times. He had a keen mind. In my youth I have followed his political career. He was a bright and committed noble leader who had deep faith in democracy.

In view of limited time, I am directly coming to few ideas that I want to share with you young people who will live close to 100 years in your life span and see many many fast changes in day to day lives, be it technology, business, personal lives etc. Yes, most of it will be fast and enjoyable for those who prepare themselves well in advance. Therefore, my attempt will be to share some scenarios for your PERSONAL LIVES and PROFESSIONAL LIVES. Both arenecessary to have healthy, active, successful, sustainable and happy lives. I will give some examples here but may elaborate some of them, extempore during my talk. I am not going to be goody-goody. I will follow Tulsi (quote during the talk).

The first and foremost duty for all of you is to take care of your life, body and mind. Accident data on roads are alarming: 411 deaths are taking place per day in India and most of them are young people. It means almost 1000 per day injuries and disabilities are taking place in addition to deaths. Most of it is due to rash driving, no helmet, carelessness in crossing roads etc. Are such risks worth taking? Think. Is your life not precious? You all have the opportunity to live up to 100 years. Then there is mobile addiction even while walking, driving etc. Complete lack of focus. But the worst thing is that most of you bend your neck on one side, holding the mobile and even while eating, cooking etc. Do you know that spinal cord has to be kept straight? The very first lesson that is taught in all Yoga is to keep it straight. Bending as a habit, be it for mobile phone, on sitting, sleeping postures- will not only cause permanent damage but also cause severe pains, partial paralysis etc. many years later when you are nearing your forties. Many such items including addiction to alcohol, drugs etc are injurious to your life. Even excessive exercise, fitness freaks are also bad. Better lives and sustained happiness in lives are possible only with moderation. So it is with eating, sleeping and resting.

Remember these three words: Abuse, Disuse, and Misuse (I will explain during the talk).

You should avoid them.

It is only with sound body and mind, you can achieve in professional lives, contribute to yourselves, family and friends and to the society. Those of you who have some health issues like asthma, diabetes or eye problems etc are not required to be worried. You have to take proper medical checkup and follow medical instructions. Modern diagnostics and medicines do wonders. You can have as a good life and achievements as anybody else. Never think of taking away your life, be it for love-affair, pressure of studies, work, or loan etc. Only when you live long, you can achieve happiness, success etc for yourselves, family and friends. If depressed, talk to trusted friends and may even consult doctor. No shame in going to psychic counselor.

Now coming to the professional aspects, a very cogent writing on emerging future, as relevant to India is given in the book Beyond 2020 by Dr. Abdul Kalam and me. It has Hindi version too. I will not repeat them. There are also some YouTube talks by me which you can hear by going to my website www.ysrajan.com or googling my name as Y.S.Rajan. They are very practical as related to the emerging India.

You see in newspapers only about IIT’s, IIM’s, AI’s, cyber security, space, genetic therapy etc. You will be wondering: Where is life for me? I have taken the courses at JNCU. Where can I get jobs which will be more exciting and well paying? Many of you aspire to get into a government job for safety of full time employment. First of all government jobs are very limited. They are a minuscule percentage of the total job market. They are paid by tax payer’s money which is also needed used for other important national priorities like defense, security, law and order, developmental and societal projects. Remember that you are all a lot better than most of the Indian youth of your age as 60% don’t go beyond eighth class and 20% are with 10th or 12th pass. About 20% get degrees or diplomas beyond 12th. But you are not in the top of the fortunate 20% better educated. Don’t worry. Listen what I say next carefully.

Even now bulk of the job of some 450 million persons who earn in India, are in informal sectors like self-employed, shop keepers, casual workers etc. Some of them are very highly skilled. Only about 6 to 7% are in the government and organized sectors i.e. in companies, and institutes etc. As long as you do work legally and earn good incomes, it is equally good. Many persons, who are self-employed, earn good money also. Thanks to the recent actions by the government that all persons can get a good pension scheme to pay for old age as well as reasonable medical attention with the health insurance. Wherever you work, you should use these schemes to take care of your future.

I have reviewed the types of graduates/post graduates from the university so far. Total number of students passed out from 2018-19 to 2020-22 is 74166. If it is seen as in different streams like Science, Maths, Commerce, Law and Arts, a very large segment (close to 90%-88.7%) is in Arts. Even within Arts, some applied subject orientation like Psychology, Geography; English etc are very small in number. It is therefore a challenge to conceptualize as to what you can contribute to the demands of modern economy which is emerging fast in India. You need to fit in some segment of the demands of market to get paying job. Forget getting into some government jobs in UP or even teaching job. Soon the demands of students and their parents will be for subjects in Science, Commerce, Business Administration, Law, Accountancy and the like.

I will try to give examples as to how you can supplement new skills even within the degrees you get, so that you are in demand in the job market. Don’t think there are no jobs in India. Many positions are vacant even in private companies. But they won’t fill it with persons who don’t have the right skills to suit their work. They don’t want only Engineering, PhDs, IIT’s etc. I will explain with examples.

First and foremost, I am going to tell a not so pleasant truth. Remember my quote of Tulsi Das. Mostly you would have studied your subjects in Hindi. Your knowledge of English would be fair if not poor. I respect all Indian languages and fully support the need to increase the use of words for the modern world in Indian languages. I did my schooling in Tamil except for the last year (matriculation). College/University education was fully in English medium and we adjusted. That was in 1960’s.

In the present day world, it is essential to have good grasp of English for most transactions and it need not be of literature type. Many computer linked operations are in English. Therefore, first and foremost duty is to acquire some practical aspects of the use of English like speaking, reading, writing and use for computer searches etc. Note that the economy is so big that your job opportunities need not be limited to space, technology, atomic, defense etc. Things like tourism, hospitality sector (hotels etc.), agriculture, security (defense, police etc.) maintenance of infrastructure, many aspects of health care delivery, retail network, entertainment like TV, cinema, music etc. sports, waste management (like recycling) demand persons skilled in specific aspects. They would be very narrow specialties.

The GPS system which the driver uses for locating a place and finding out the correct roads is based on space technology: navigation system, remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS) and communication. But so many ordinary persons use it effectively to provide services and earn money. You need to understand how to use. If you go to a hospital, there are so many formalities like registration, billing, getting cash or checking insurance coverage. They don’t need a doctor, nurse or a pharmacist. But there are many special skills using computers. So is in modern post office which does many banking operations too. They have acquired the skills. There are many thousands of such examples which are from the modern economy of India.

For all the fields covered in the book Beyond 2020, I have referred to before that there are many thousands of such skills. It is necessary for you to find out where you will fit. Of course, a common thing for all of them will be: working knowledge of English, and some basic knowledge of computer operations.

I will give some examples for each stream of courses in your university. Science stream has a number of useful subjects. The Agriculture, Bio-group can acquire necessary skills for soil testing etc to create Soil Health Cards already promoted by central government and also to help various operations of national E-Mandi for agricultural produce. Food and Nutrition sector has a huge scope in retail networks like food standardization checks of FSSAI etc.

Those who are in law should not only depend on criminal and local civil cases. Try to learn items related to modern economic life like contract laws, corporate law, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), not necessarily to be an expert but to be able to be one of the assistants for major lawyers or law firms. These are called paralegal services. For B.Com, there are other opportunities like in banking sector, assistants for chartered accountants, keeping accounts for small medium industries, GST assistants etc. Those who are mode venturesome can complete courses like Company Secretary.

Coming to arts, those who pursue English can take up work in tourism industry, and hospitality management etc - ranging from booking reservation, to being translators, and tour guides. Those who are in Medieval History can learn some interesting historic events not generally known but factual from new researches. And also Folk tales, pertaining to many areas of special tourist circuits organized by the government (Religions & Historical). One should also learn and know other Indian languages like Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and other south Indian languages to cater many domestic tourists who come to Varanasi, Ayodhya, Taj Mahal, Mathura, Gaya, and Sarnath etc.

I cannot make an exhaustive list for each of you. You have to find out. Hope the university will help to find out more areas and also as to where you can get additional skills. The formula is simple. Modern economy requires many thousands of new skills- not very difficult, but to be focused. A good economic skill can be acquired in about 06 to 12 months, if you concentrate. Prior learning should be in English and functional computer operations skills as I had explained earlier. In addition I suggest both boys & girls that there are many national security related skills required for police, banks, defense, and also for anti-terrorist operations. Don’t be afraid. You can learn. Once you orient yourself for some productive work, start earning, as a self employed or on contract or regular job. Your performance and experience will show you new patterns. You will start enjoying.

My best Wishes!

Now I have some requests for the university. Since NEP allows many innovative courses, please add in all the courses of Arts, Commerce, Law etc and also some short term courses, in consultation with those who know the modern skill markets (not just ministries but those who will pay for the people who work). If necessary, charge some marginal fees. Get some of your faculties trained to look for real-life-market needs and not just academic aspects. It will also be good if some of the faculty starts learning and be a forerunner for the students.

I am not unaware of the beauties of Indian languages and literature. People should excel in one of them. I am not just preaching. I write in Tamil on complex issues, science, technology, business and economic aspects. They are published. I write poetry in English and Tamil and they are published as books. But this is for enjoyment and as a service to our languages which have stagnated in some respects.

Life is multidimensional. Modern life demands multi- disciplinary skills and those oriented to economic uses.

I wish you all a great future. I wish that young University grows into a major centre of relevance and excellence.

Pranam.