Table Of ContentI
SPEECHES
OF PRESIDENT
RAJENDRA PRASAD
VOLUME THREE
PUBLICATIONS DIVISION
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Government of India
First Published: 1977 (Saka 1898)
Reprint: 2007 (Saka 1929)
Price: Rs. 335.00
ISBN: 81-230-1406-6
S&W-ENG-REP-095-2006-07
Published by Director, Publications Division,
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
Government of India, Soochna Bhawan, C.G.O. Complex,
Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003
http/www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
Editing : Sapna N. Singh & Maneesh Singhal
Cover Design : V. Pardeshi
Sales Centres : • Delhi • Soochna Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi-110003 • Hall No. 196, Old Secretariat, Delhi-110054 • Mumbai * 701,
B - Wing, 7th Floor, Kendriya Sadan, Navi Mumbai - 400614 • Kolkata • 8,
Esplanade East, Kolkata-700069 • Chennai • ‘A’ Wing, Rajaji Bhavan, Besant
Nagar, Chennai-600090 • Thiruvananthapuram • Press Road, Near Govt. Press,
Thiruvananthapuram-695 001 • Hyderabad • Block 4,1st Floor, Gruhakalpa Complex,
M.G. Road, Nampally, Hyderabad-500001 • Bangalore • 1st Floor, ‘F* Wing, Kendriya
Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034 • Patna • Bihar State Co-operative Bank
Building, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna-800004 • Lucknow • Hall No. 1, 2nd Floor,
Kendriya Bhawan, Sector 8, Aliganj, Lucknow 226024 • Ahmedabad • Ambica
Complex, 1st Floor, Paldi, Ahmedabad-380007, •Guwahati • House No. 7, New
Colony, Cheni Kuthi, K.K.B. Road, Guwahati - 781003
Typeset at Nautiyal Computers, G-ll Aruna Park, Shakarpur, Delhi-110 092
Printed at Ankur Offset & Packaging, A-54, Sector-63, Noida
PREFACE
This volume contains Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s speeches from November
1956 to May 1963, when he laid down the office of the President of
India. The speeches have been arranged subjectwise. Their sweep is broad
and they bring out the multichromatic personality of Dr. Prasad, highlighting
various facets of his life—as a statesman, a scholar, a historian, an
educationist, an idealist and a thinker, who never shied away from new
ideas, though firmly holding to his cultural moorings.
Education was Dr. Prasad’s forte and this explains why “education”,
as one subject claims the largest number of speeches in this collection. In
the various convocation addresses to Indian universities and educational
institutions, he laid emphasis on the present-day requirements of the country
and the people. He exhorted educationists and teachers alike to rise up to
the new challenges thrown up by independence and thus refashion the
educational system so that it produced not square pegs in round holes, but
men and women who could give shape to the aspirations of the free people
of India and help them realise the great destiny that was theirs.
On whatever subject Dr. Prasad spoke, he injected into it a rare
simplicity of approach, complete disuse of rhetoric and a fresh air of
contemporaneity. All this goes to make his speeches a real treat, compelling
sustained interest.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Public. Resource.Org
https://archive.org/details/speechesofpresid03unse
CONTENTS
ADDRESSES TO PARLIAMENT
A YEAR FULL OF ACHIEVEMENTS 1
MAINTAINING THE TEMPO OF DEVELOPMENT 7
FORGING AHEAD DESPITE STRESSES 13
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH 19
A FRIEND BETRAYS 28
NEW PEAKS IN AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY 38
PLANNING WITH A BROAD PERSPECTIVE 44
TOWARDS A BALANCED ECONOMY 52
MESSAGES TO THE NATION
IMPACT OF PLANNING ON NATION’S PROSPERITY 56
NEED FOR UNITY 58
IMPLEMENT PLAN WITH REDOUBLED EFFORT 62
MATCHING THOUGHTS WITH DEEDS 65
STRESSES OF PLANNED ECONOMY 67
MESSAGE OF HOPE AND PROGRESS 69
WARNING AGAINST INTERNAL FRICTION 71
BUILDING A BETTER INDIA 73
INDIA AND THE WORLD
INDO-JAPAN RELATONS 76
MAHATMA’S TEACHINGS AND WORLD PROBLEMS 79
THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL TIES 85
LET US STRIVE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BETTERMENT 88
SATYA AND AHIMSA SHOULD GUIDE HUMAN RELATIONS 89
FREEDOM BRINGS NEW RESPONSIBILITIES 93
INDO-CAMBODIAN FRIENDSHIP 97
MATERIAL PROSPERITY AND SPIRITUAL VALUES IMPORTANT 99
QUEST FOR AN IDEAL HUMAN SOCIETY 101
THE CONCEPT OF POSITIVE PEACE 103
THE INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST CENTRE 104
RECASTING THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS 106
SYNTHESIS OF THE OLD AND THE NEW 110
ON HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS TIES 113
INDO-U.S. FRIENDSHIP 115
A FRIENDSHIP MEETING 117
UNIVERSITIES AND WORLD PEACE 119
AN ABIDING RELATIONSHIP 121
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
ADVICE TO FUTURE ADMINISTRATORS 124
FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL 126
INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE 131
A UNIQUE INSTITUTION 134
ON INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY 137
PROPAGATION OF HINDI 141
THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE 148
WINNING PEOPLE’S CONFIDENCE 150
NO CONFLICT AMONG INDIAN LANGUAGES 153
THE ROLE OF LAWYERS AND JUDGES 156
EMPHASIS ON INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT 160
NEED FOR A STRONG BAR 162
JUDICIARY : PROTECTOR OF OUR CONSTITUTION 165
UNITY : OUR HERITAGE AND IDEAL 167
CRITICISM COMPATIBLE WITH DEMOCRACY 169
NEED TO PRESERVE UNDERLYING UNITY OF INDIA 172
NO IMPOSITION OF HINDI 177
DUTY FIRST 183
POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT 186
SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS 189
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
KURUKSHETRA : REMINDER OF A LOFTY TRADITION 192
SANSKRIT IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE 194
A UNIVERSITY COMPLETES HUNDRED YEARS 196
ANDHRA SAHITYA AKADEMY 201
UNIVERSITIES AND CHARACTER BUILDING 205
GIVING EDUCATION A BROADER BASIS 208
BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN 211
FAITH AS BASIS OF PEACE 213
CONTINUITY IN INDIA’S HISTORY 217
ADVICE TO STUDENTS 220
KALIDASA 224
RAISING TEACHERS’ PAY AND STATUS 228
RABINDRA BHAVAN 230
FILMS AS MEANS OF EDUCATION 233
PUBLIC SCHOOLS 235
STUDENTS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES 238
CATCHING UP WITH PROGRESS 239
IMPORTANCE OF EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 243
THE ROOTS OF INDIAN UNITY 246
EDUCATION AND SOCIAL REFORMS 250
