The Human Resource Development Cell organised Shri Ram Red Bricks Summit on the the 29th and 30th of April. We were extremely delighted to have Padma Vibhushan recipient Maharaja Dr. Karan Singh, an Indian politician, philanthropist and poet, born in the royal family of Jammu and Kashmir and served as the first governor of J&K. In 1967 he became the youngest ever cabinet minister in the Government of Indira Gandhi. He has also been chancellor of many universities.
Dr. Karan started with thanking for inviting him to the most prestigious college of India and told that his son graduated from SRCC. He recalled his times in University of Delhi from where he completed his Phd. Hestarted with 'सावयायावमु तये' which means 'knowledge is one that liberates'. In 1993 the UNESCO set up the UNESCO Commission on education in 20th century and he being one of the 15 members there prepared a report along with other members which is known as 'Learning the Treasure Within' . The two main things of the report were lifelong learning and the four pillars of learning.He told that the first pillar is 'learning to know'. Our civilization is a dialogue civilization where we ask questions and the other person answers and the best example is Bhagavad Gita.There is so much of information available nowadays so first of all we have to get knowledge from information and then wisdom from knowledge.He said that knowledge without wisdom is dangerous like the rule of Hitler. He also talked about the concept of 'neuroplasticity'.
Mr. Singh then started to talk about the second pillar which is 'learning to do'.According to him that's the reason for educated unemployment as we get graduated without acquiring skills. He again mentioned words written in Gita which mean 'whatever you do, do it with the commitment'.He then tells a story in which there was a great temple being built so one of the workers was asked what was he doing he said he's breaking stones the other side he earning a living and third one said he's building a great temple, and that shows the skill. He said that to do anything firstly we mustn't poison ourselves either by drug, tobacco or unsafe sex.
He mentioned the third pillar as 'learning to live together', which is very important especially for us because we are multidimensional civilisation. He quoted 'सहनाववतुसहनौभनु तुसह वीय करवावहै' which implies togetherness. This pillar involves a value system involving family values which has two parts: parents-children and husband-wife. We should be polite to our parents and men and women should walk side by side as both are equal. Next is society values like teamwork, cleanliness, etc. Then we have interface values which implies that we should try to understand each other and shouldn't have narrow minded thinking. Next is environmental values and the last is global value which implies that we should act as global citizens and not only as Indians as all are part of the same ecosystem. Last pillar is 'learning to be'. Then he ended his speech by quoting a few inspirational lines.
Then the question answer round started and having experience of being health minister he told that the health infrastructure has collapsed and called Covid a disaster. He then told about his mentors Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Radhakrishnan from whom he understood the importance of culture, how to give speech, use of sanskrit, etc. Being the chancellor of so many universities he said that nationalisation of private education and upgradation of teachers is the need of the hour. With this his session ended and the host thanked him for enriching the students.