"I will win and win
my will power
as strong as diamond"

அன்புள்ள மாணவ செல்வங்களே, நெய்வேலி டவுன்ஷிப்பை சார்ந்த பல் வேறு பள்ளிகளில் இருந்து ஆயிரக்கணக்காக (11000) இங்கு வந்துள்ள மாணவ, மாணவிகள், ஆசிரியர்கள் மற்றும் பெற்றோர்கள், சிறப்பு அழைப்பாளர்கள் உங்கள் அனைவரையும் சந்தித்து உரையாடக்கிடைத்த வாய்ப்புக்கு மிக்க மகிழ்ச்சி. உங்கள் அனைவருக்கும் எனது மனமார்ந்த நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

I am very happy to address and interact with the students and teachers of Neyveli Schools. My greetings to all of you. Friends, education builds capacity among students for research and inquiry, innovation and creativity, use of high technology systems, entrepreneurial and moral leadership. Today, when I am with the Neyveli youth and teachers, I would like to talk on the topic "Education gives wings to succeed in life".

When I am in Neyveli in Cuddalore district, I saw the past about 50 years back, a barren land with cultivation of jackfruit and cashew nuts with few schools. Today I can see a great institution has emerged, that is Neyveli Lignite Corporation with multiple missions of a mining of lignite, power generation, power transmission, a beautiful housing complex of 20,000, all around green environment and many schools and above all green environment created by 18 million trees. I was asking myself, how it is possible to have such a transformation. It is because of the vision, individuals or team "vision makes the nation" and creates great institutions and great human beings. And you young friends, remember always the statement of Mahatma Gandhi ji?-

"Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny"

இங்கு ஆயிரக்கணக்கான மாணவர்களை பார்க்கிறேன். நீங்கள் எல்லோரும் வெற்றியடைய, வளமான வாழ்வு பெற ஓர் சிறு கவிதை மூலம் என் கருத்தை உங்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள விரும்புகிறேன். அந்த கவிதையின் தலைப்பு, "வாழ்வில் நான் பறந்து கொண்டேயிருப்பேன்" என்பதாகும். இதை எல்லோரும் என்னுடன் சேர்ந்து சொல்கிறீர்களா?

நான் பறந்து கொண்டேயிருப்பேன்
நான் பிறந்தேன் அரும்பெரும் சக்தியுடன்,
நான் பிறந்தேன் நற்பண்புகளுடன்,
நான் பிறந்தேன் கனவுடன், வளர்ந்தேன் நல்ல எண்ணங்களுடன்,

நான் பிறந்தேன் உயர் எண்ணங்களை செயல்படுத்த,
நான் பிறந்தேன் ஆராயச்சி உள்ளத்துடன்,
நான் பிறந்தேன் ஆகாய உச்சியில் பறக்க,

நான் பூமியில் ஒரு போதும் தவழமாட்டேன்.
தவழவே மாட்டேன், ஆகாய உச்சிதான் என் லட்சியம்.
பறப்பேன், பறப்பேன், வாழ்வில் பறந்து கொண்டே இருப்பேன்.

How does achievement come? There are four proven steps; having an aim in life before 20 years of age, acquiring knowledge continuously, hard work towards the aim and perseverance to defeat the problem and succeed.

My message to you, young friends, is that education gives you wings to fly. Achievement comes out of fire in our sub-conscious mind that "I will win". So, each one of you assembled here and elsewhere, will have "Wings of Fire". The Wing of Fire will indeed lead to knowledge which will make you to fly as a Doctor, or an Engineer, or a scientist, or a teacher, or a political leader, or a bureaucrat or a diplomat or you would like to walk on the Moon and Mars or anything you want to be. I would like to assert that "No youth today need to fear about the future" . How? The ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, under the earth and above the earth.

Friends after your education what you are carrying with you? It is knowledge. Now I am going to discuss with you knowledge equation. Knowledge has three components, creativity, righteousness and courage. Let us look at the first component creativity:

Creativity
"Learning gives creativity
Creativity leads to thinking
Thinking provides knowledge
Knowledge makes you great"

Righteousness
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.

How do we inculcate the righteousness in the heart. In my opinion, there are three sources which can build a youth with righteousness in the heart. They are the environment and care of love and great teachers of this institution.

The third component is courage, which is defined as follows:

COURAGE
Courage to think different,
Courage to invent,
Courage to travel into an unexplored path,
Courage to discover the impossible,
Courage to combat the problems and succeed,
are the unique qualities of the youth.
As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all the missions.

I am sure; the Neyveli Schools are imparting such a knowledge to all of you which will instill courage and confidence in your minds for accomplishing all your missions.

Dear young friends, knowledge will empower you to undertake great missions. While entering into such type of mission in life, you need unique traits for achieving success in your missions which will require extra ordinary courage and the ability to dream big which will help overcome all obstacles. I would like to give an example of a visually challenged young boy, who was not deterred by his physical challenge.

I can do it: Friends, when I was the President of India, on 28 Aug 2006, I met the group of tribal students from Lead India 2020 movement. I asked all of them one question: "What you want to become?" Out of many responses, one visually challenged boy studying IX class got up. His name is Srikanth, he answered me "I will become visually Challenged first President of India". I was very happy to see his vision and ambition. Small aim is a crime. Hence, I congratulated him to realize his vision and told him to work for realizing the vision.

There after he worked hard got 90% in Xth class and 96 % in intermediate and he set a goal to study Engineering in MIT, Boston USA. His relentless hard work not only secured seat but he got full fee waiver from MIT, Boston. Srikanth?s achievement has brought changes in many change agents of Lead India 2020 and inspired to set high vision. The training he took under the initiative of Lead India 2020 has set a high vision for him. Seeing this impact of Lead India 2020 training, Lead India 2020 movement and GE volunteers have funded Mr. Srikanth for his travel to USA. Today he is pursuing his studies at MIT, Boston. When the GE offered him a job on his completion of graduation, he told them that he would certainly come back to GE, if I couldn?t become the President of India. What a confidence that boy has amidst of difficulty and the challenges in his life by being visually challenged.

Friends, here I would like to narrate a unique experience in this new year 2011. I went to Madurai for inaugurating the Pediatric Oncology Cancer unit at Meenakshi Mission Hospital on 7 Jan 2011. When I completed the task, suddenly one person was approaching me and his face looked familiar to me. When he came closer to me, I found out that he was my driver during my DRDL times at Hyderabad. When I was working at DRDL, Hyderabad, I had a Driver his name is V. Kathiresan, who worked with me day and night for nine years. During that time, I used to witness, he always reads some books, newspapers and journals of substance during his free time. But he meticulously reads every time I see him. That dedication attracted me. I asked him a question? What made you to read during your leisure time? He replied that he had a son and daughter. They used to ask him lot of questions. That has made him to study and tries to answer to his level best. The spirit of learning in him, attracted me, I told him to study formally through the distance education mode and gave him some free time to attend the course and complete his +2 and then to apply for higher education. He took that as a challenge and kept on studying and acquiring his skills and upgraded his educational qualification, he did B.A. (History), then he did M.A (History) and then he did M.A (Political Science) and completed his B.Ed and then M.Ed and he worked with me upto 1992. Then he registered for his Ph.D in Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and got his PhD in 2001. He joined the Education Department of Tamilnadu Government and served for number of years. Now in 2010, he has become an Assistant Professor in the Government Arts College at Mellur near Madurai. What a commitment and dedication has helped him to acquire the right skills in his leisure time that has made his career progress and upgrade his livelihood better. The message is, it doesn?t matter who you are if you have a vision and determination to achieve that vision, you will certainly achieve.

"When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you"

Dear friends, when I see the thousands of youth assembled here, I would like to discuss with you, what type of India are you going to inherit in next one decade time. If you understand, then certainly everyone of you has a role to contribute for the developed India vision 2020. I visualize India in the year 2020 to have the following distinctive competitive profile. Now, let me give my visualization of India during the year 2020.

1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.

2. A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.

3. A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony.

4. A Nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.

5. A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors.

6. A Nation where the best of health care is available to all.

7. A Nation where the governance is responsive, transparent and corruption free.

8. A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated.

9. A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.

10. A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.

To achieve the distinctive profile of India, we have the mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare (3) Information and Communication Technology (4) Infrastructure: Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country and (5) Self reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are closely inter-related and progressing in a coordinated way, leading to food, economic and national security.

Dear students, every one of you think of yourself, your career whether it is in science, engineering, healthcare, agriculture, arts, literature, humanities, business, management, social entrepreneurship, politics, law and executive, whatever the field that you choose, you have a responsibility to contribute and you can always say, think and act on one thing, what is that one thing - that is what the spirit of "what I can give?" Under any circumstances, if everyone of you acquire the quality of saying "What I can give? Then you have arrived, we have arrived and India arrived in realizing the Developed India vision 2020.

Now I would like to discuss about the mission of ten billion trees.

Dear friends, you will be learning the process of photo-synthesis in the plant and tree family. "When the Sun shines, the green plants breakdown water to get electrons and protons, use these particles to turn carbon-di-oxide into glucose and vent out oxygen as a waste product." Each mature tree in a year absorbs 20 Kgs of carbon-di-oxide and transforms into wood and reinforces the branches of the tree. At the same time, it lets out into the atmosphere and surrounding 14 kgs of oxygen which is the nature gift to the mankind. That?s why I have been administering during the last ten years to everyone of the 13 million youth I have met, a ten point oath, one of which emphasizes the need for plantation of trees. The oath reads: "I will plant ten trees and ensure their growth". I understand that this oath has resulted in the plantation of millions of trees in different parts of the country during the last decade. Today, I am visiting Green Kalam project where they have already planted over 13 lakh trees in Cuddalore district. I am sure, each one of you will participate in this mission and make Cuddalore district a carbon neutral district.

As you all know, the earth rotates on its own axis once in a day having 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86400 seconds. Earth itself orbits around the sun. It takes nearly one year for an orbit. With the completion of one rotation of earth around the sun, your age is added by one year as you are living on planet earth. Seconds fly, minutes fly, hours fly, days fly and years fly. We have no control over it. The only thing that we can do is, while the time flies, we can navigate the time. "Let not thy winged days, be spent in vain".

Friends, finally let me now discuss about a very important area which is significant to our quest in evolving an economically developed nation by 2020. Of course, we are making significant progress in all directions. But we also have many challenges to overcome. They include, corruption and moral turpitude in the nation, environmental degradation and the need to build a compassionate society. These are evils which need to be defeated by the goodness of the youth. Where do such evils arise from? It arises from the never ending greed of what can I take? The fight for corruption free, ethical society, good environment hence will have to be fought against this greed and replace "What can I take?" to the spirit of "What Can I Give"? And if we inculcate the spirit of What Can I Give, it would not only be our strength in overcoming moral degradation, but also ensure a society which is compassionate, environmentally conscious and caring towards each other.

As students, we need to ask ourselves one question - What Can I Give? Let me give some examples:

? Can I be an Environment Giver, thereby giving a clean environment and conserve the planet and its habitat from degradation? (billion trees for billion people; today we can decide, each one of us will plant five trees and nurture)

? Can I be a Care giver, and providing care to those needy, those who are sick and those who are lonely in their pains? (Visit a hospital and give happiness to the patients who are not visited by anybody. You can offer flowers, fruits and cheerfulness of the youth)

? Can I be a clean home giver? (Can I tell my parents that corruption is wrong, and I do not want any luxury coming from money earned through wrong means?)

I am sure, all of you will practice the thought "what can I give" in all your transactions.

My greetings and best wishes to all of you for success in your educational mission.

May God bless you.

Oath for the Students