Viksit Bharat must begin with empowered villages, Vice-President tells Gandhigram graduates

India's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047 will be met only if its villages develop, Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan told graduating students at Gandhigram Rural Institute in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul district on 30 October.

Radhakrishnan was speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations and 39th convocation of the deemed university, where he conferred gold medals on top students. "India's journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047 must begin with empowered villages," he said.

Villages, not towns

The aim, he said, need not be to turn every village into a town, but to give rural citizens quality infrastructure, essential services, livelihoods and a dignified standard of living comparable to urban areas. He called for better road and transport links so that education, healthcare, markets and jobs reach rural communities.

He said about 25 crore people had moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2014 and 2023, and pointed to the PM-KISAN scheme, under which eligible farmer families receive ₹6,000 a year in three instalments.

Advice to graduates

Noting that artificial intelligence and automation are changing the nature of work, he urged students to learn emerging technologies, become "job creators rather than merely job seekers", and stay away from drugs. He described support for domestic manufacturing and local innovation as the modern expression of Mahatma Gandhi's idea of Swadeshi.

The institute was founded by G. Ramachandran and T. S. Soundaram Ramachandran, inspired by Gandhi's ideals.

Honours and new buildings

Radhakrishnan conferred honorary doctorates on three people: spiritual leader and Tamil scholar Thavathiru Kundrakudi Ponnambala Adigalar, former ISRO aerospace scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, and academician S. S. M. Sundaram.

He opened two new buildings, the Examination and Seminar Halls and the Pushpkunj Heritage Building, and digitally laid foundation stones for a 22 kV power house and control room, an academic building for the School of Education and a 30-classroom academic complex. He also released the book "Inclusivity of India's Ageing Population" and unveiled a golden jubilee commemorative postage stamp.

Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Chancellor K. M. Annamalai and Vice-Chancellor N. Panchanatham were present.

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Source: official release by the Vice President's Secretariat, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (30 OCT 2026 3:02PM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: Vice-President calls for holistic rural development to realise Viksit Bharat 2047; graces Golden Jubilee Celebrations and 39th Convocation of Gandhigram Rural Institute.