KOTA: Terming the central governments flagship Smart City project "insufficient and inadequate" for ensuring overall progress of the country, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh stressed the on need to make villages smart.
"Villages rather than cities need to be made smart for the overall progress and development of the country," Singh said yesterday at the 6th convocation of Rajasthan Technical University (RTU) at UIT auditorium in Kota.
Singh argued the real nation dwells in the villages and hence the country cannot develop and progress by making only the cities smart.
"Without making the villages smart, nation cannot become developed and progressive," he said.
Singh, who was earlier with the BJP, said he himself belongs to a village and still laments the poor infrastructure and absence of essential amenities like drinking water, electricity, and roads there.
The Governor said he had recently asked the state's chief secretary to take the developmental projects and government schemes to the villages to turn them smart.
He appreciated the girl students of the RTU for bagging maximum number of medals and degrees and asked the boys to study hard to improve their performance.
The Governor gave away 18 gold medals and 80 degrees which were largely shared by girl students.
Singh said committing suicide is a sin and an act of cowardice, and added parents should assess their children's ability before deciding what they study.
He also expressed concern about poor campus placement. He said only 28 per cent of the students could secure jobs during campus interviews and asked the varsity authorities to take it seriously.
The students of the universities should be connected to initiatives like Start Up India and Stand Up India and an adequate package on placement needs to be ensured, he said.