New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, addressing the officer trainees of Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) 2024 batch at the Vice-President's Enclave on Saturday, said all decisions in this country, a sovereign nation, are taken by its leadership.

'Don't be guided by narratives outside. All decisions in this country, a sovereign nation, are taken by its leadership. There is no power on the planet to dictate to India how to handle its affairs. We do live in a nation and nations that are a comity. We work in togetherness; we work in tandem. We have mutual respect, diplomatic dialogues. But at the end of the day, we are sovereign, we take our own decisions,' he said.

Dhankhar stated, 'Our demographic dividend is a global envy. 65% of our population is below 35 years of age. The median age of this country is 28, whereas that of China and the U.S. is around 38-39, and Japan, 48. Now, you are the chosen ones. You've got the opportunity to serve Bharat, home to one-sixth of humanity. And look at the area of your working. If you commit yourself, keeping into view our civilizational ethos, we are a unique nation. No nation can boast or claim to be closer to us -- five thousand years of heritage, culture, legacy, knowledge, wisdom, repository. In such a situation -- eighteen lakh acres? If you engage -- which you are engaging, your seniors are engaging -- you can define to the entire country, how to manage the estates, how to manage ecology, how to manage the environment, how to raise herbal gardens, what is sustainable development, how to protect and how to use modern technology.'

He underlined, 'Is it required to play every bad ball? Is it required to have wrestling sessions as to who said what? One who scores good runs on the cricket pitch always leaves bad balls. They are tempting, but not attempted. And those who attempt, you have safe gloves of the wicket keeper and someone in the gully.'

'There will be challenges. Challenges will be to create divisiveness. For example, we have seen global conflagrations -- two of them in particular, you know them. These have become open-ended. Look at the devastation of property, human lives, and their misery. And look at our calibration. We taught a lesson -- taught it well. We chose Bahawalpur and Muridke, and then brought it to a temporary conclusion. 'Operation Sindoor' is not over -- it continues. Some people ask the question -- why was it stopped? We are a nation that believes in peace, nonviolence, a land of Buddha, Mahavira, and Gandhi. We do not wish to kill even living beings -- how can we target human beings? The idea was to generate sanity, to generate a sense of humanity in the others', he added.

'One aspect about which I am slightly concerned. Development, civilian development, close to the proximity of your states, requires your sanction. That sanction often gets into the domain of discretion and suffers delay. I would urge -- evolve a mechanism or a protocol. Let people know about it -- what height they can have. Why should the system come into play? With the kind of technology we have, we should be fully aware. Why can't we put it on one platform? This is the area -- if your building is coming up here, height will be this. Yet agencies have to be hired. People have to pay for it. Delay takes place. Now you can take the lead. You will earn the goodwill of the people around', he added.

Expressing his concern over rising coaching centres in the country he stated, 'Coaching is needed for skill. Coaching is needed to make you self-dependent. If for a limited number of seats, all over the country there are coaching centers vying with one another for advertisement space in newspapers. Not one -- one page, two pages, three pages, sometimes four pages in a row. And what a spectacle -- putting you boys and girls in photographs. No, this is not Bharat. We can't have commodification and commercialisation. We have to believe in Gurukul. You have to come out of -- youth has to come out of the silos. You have to know the opportunities elsewhere. Those opportunities are also very necessary for the development of the nation....I am not against anyone, but why should coaching become an integral part of education? After more than three decades, the nation has been blessed after getting input from stakeholders in hundreds of thousands, National Education Policy. Why coaching? Coach has to improve your skill. We can't have people cramming and then getting through. We want thinking minds to get in and go there. Always bear that in mind'.

Talking about 'Viksit Bharat', he stated, ' Our object is not to just simply grow our economy. Our object is to develop the people. Viksit Bharat is not our dream. It is not even our destination now. We are marching in that direction. Every day we are progressing towards that direction, and that's a big challenge because 10 years of phenomenal development has given the people a taste of development. People of my generation never believed...there will be a toilet in the house, a gas connection in the house, internet connection, piped water, roads close by, school or health center, such world-class trains to travel. No. We never imagined. So the nation now has become globally the most aspirational nation in the world.'

Rajesh Kumar Singh, Defence Secretary, Govt. of India, S.N. Gupta, Director General, Defence Estates, Sanjeev Kumar, Director, NIDEM and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. (ANI)