Chances of catching 2020 deadline Iffy

VIRUDHUNAGAR: It is not possible for India to become a developed nation by 2020, as prophesied by former president A P J Abdul Kalam, if the present scenario is an indication, former vice-chancellor of Anna University and presently member of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission E Balagurusamy said here on Saturday.Delivering the second convocation address at Kalasalingam University in Krishnankovil, he said 200 million people in India went to bed hungry and there were 300 million people living below poverty line. About 400 million were illiterate and 70 per cent of the population had no sanitation facilities and 30 per cent had no access to potable drinking. In that context, will it be possible for the country to become developed within the next eight years, he asked.On corruption, Balagurusamy said it was the mother of all illnesses. According to Transparency International, India was one the  most corrupt countries. The disturbing trend was increasing in the field of education during the past few years.‘Universities should provide role models for the youth in terms of integrity, probity and ethics. But unfortunately, this is not happening as desired in most of our universities today. Ethical and moral values of the educational leaders have deteriorated to an alarmingly low level in recent years.  In this background, any number of Anna Hazares and Jan Lokpal bills would be able to root out corruption. India was today among the four economic super power nations in the world. We were among the few countries with nuclear capabilities and had the largest number of billionaires.Balagurusamy said that recently, he visited a multi-storeyed departmental stores in Coimbatore where four floors out of five were selling only Chinese made goods.On his way to Karur, he stopped at a wayside tea stall and noticed a single tumbler hanging from a rope. When he asked the shopkeeper, why it was there, the man said that it was for ‘other people’, meaning Dalits. If man is discriminated by man in our society, how could we call our nation developed, he asked. For the country to become developed at least in the next 20 years, the youth and students should come forward to reverse this trend without looking for jobs that will pay them fabulous salaries but make them men and women fit for service to  their fellow beings.Commenting on universities and colleges organising placement programmes, he said they were not job exchanges but institutions that should prepare their students to become employable and good human beings.