: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said certain vested interests were seeking to create a negative impression in the world about India even as he asserted that no other country has any business to interfere in India's internal affairs.
Addressing a gathering, including students, after releasing a book 'A Child of Destiny', authored by noted academician Prof K Ramakrishna Rao here, the Vice-President referred to the abrogation of Article 370 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and said certain vested interests were trying to create a negative impression about India over these.
"The CAA does not discriminate against Indian citizens.
It only seeks to provide citizenship to those who faced persecution on religious grounds in neighbouring countries," Venkaiah Naidu noted.
He asked people to read and understand the legislations first before forming an opinion.
"Read and understand about abrogation of Article 370 and the CAA. No country has any business to interfere in our internal affairs," Venkaiah Naidu added.
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The Vice-President said India has the potential to be a five trillion dollar economy because of its youth force.
"India has enormous opportunities to grow into a five trillion dollar economy. Reason for this is our youth population.
We must not fail to reap this incredible demographic dividend, the great growth potential that this enormous youth population presents," he observed.
He, however, said the economic potential of this youth population could only be harnessed if quality education, good health and decent employment opportunities were provided to them.
"It is laudable that Budget-2020 allocated Rs 99,300 crore for the education sector and Rs 3,000 crore for skill development for the next fiscal.
We must focus on improving education along the three dimensions; that of equity, affordability and quality.
I am very happy to learn that the government has decided to let the top 100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) to start full-fledged, degree level online education programme for students of deprived sections of society.
We need to overhaul and democratize our entire education system, taking it to the masses," the Vice-President said.
Naidu stressed the need to teach more about Indian history and make young students aware of our heritage, culture and the contributions of freedom fighters and many other national icons.