Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 26: "India's innate strength was undermined not by terrorists or invaders from outside the country. Rats, people sporting red, and non-committal people sitting on the fence who took birth in our own country gnawed away our internal core," said union minister for skill development, Ananth Kumar Hegde.

Hegde was speaking after inaugurating youth empowerment function organized on Sunday February 25 at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike open air theatre, Kurubarahalli here. He however fell short of naming specific parties he wanted to target through these words.

The minister said that acquiring skills is of paramount importance to again lead the country that was made hollow by internal enemies towards development and breath freshness into the society.

"It has of late become a fashion to get ourselves branded as backward. I do not know what people acquire out of this attitude, although this has become a trend. We should shed our inferiority complexes and see the world with openness. Albert Einstein had acknowledged that India was the country which laid the foundation stone for science and technology in the whole world. If we repeat what Einstein had said, we would branded communal," he said.

"Those who are in majority now will within a few years turn into minority. Extra skills the people in the minority possess is making sure this happens. Those in majority now need to seriously cogitate upon this issue and use the extra skill to retain the country's identity," he advised.

Hegde felt that Congress party does not want poor people to become self reliant, duly pointing out that the country has remained backward after 70 years of Congress rule. He felt that Congress should be ashamed of itself for claiming that the country has remained backward. Recollecting that Mahatma Gandhi had sought dissolution of Congress party long back, he wanted this to be done at least now towards saving the country.

"To provide skill-based training to young people of the country, we have been providing training in 40 occupations including health, education, agriculture, and sports through industries and that the syllabus for the same is prepared by respective industries. On the model of Indian Institute of Science functioning in the city, soon Indian Skill Development Institute would be opened in Karnataka," he explained.

Hegde took part in a programme of interaction with students after his address and answered questions on achievements, training, steps taken to create employment opportunities etc by his department.