Citizens are India's pillars: Full text of Prez Kovind's R-Day eve address

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday asked the rich to renew India's age-old culture of philanthropy by voluntarily giving up their entitlements for those with greater need.

In his first Republic Day eve address to the nation, the President also spoke of the need to move ahead rapidly on sustainable development goals like housing for all and the obligation to eliminate the curse of poverty in the shortest possible time.

Kovind utilized the opportunity to stress on the need to reform, upgrade and enlarge the education system to make it relevant to 21st Century realities of the digital economy, genomics,