Scholars who attended Rashtrapati Bhavan's In-Residence programme have vowed to work in the country rather than look for jobs abroad, which will help prevent brain drain.
The week-long programme, a first for scholars from IITs, IISc-Bangalore and IISERs, started on June 18.
The 18 scholars closely observed the initiatives taken by President Pranab Mukherjee with an aim to contributing in the growth of the nation.
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"Being in IIT, we do not lack in exposure. But, the feeling of patriotism and to serve your nation, I was never sensitised to that part. What we usually do, we go abroad and spend all our life there.
"Being here while talking to the President I understood that the country has invested in us and we need to return that. I have to give something back to my nation. I would like to get into academia. The alumni of the prime institutes are not giving the country what they actually should," Nupur Rathore, PhD scholar from IIT-Jodhpur, said.
In his address, the President had asked the students to contribute to the nation, work hard to make India great and address the challenges that the country faces, and the scholars are all motivated to do their best for the country.
Kartikeya Umesh Upasani, who is doing B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT-Indore, says he would like to bring a change among his batchmates and persuade them to contribute to the growth of India.
"From outside we have a very different picture of how the country functions and sadly most of it is negative. Initially, I also had a lot of questions in mind. But, when I saw their working methods, I realised they are more nuanced and evolved from what we see from outside.
"A lot of my batchmates don't wish to contribute to the government. I have a lot of stories to share with them and I hope to inspire them the way I have been inspired," he said.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan official said the President was happy with the response of the scholars and the change in their attitude towards the country.
It will prevent the brain drain from India, the official said.
The programme was designed by the President to give the common man an insight into the way of working at Rashtrapati Bhavan and make them understand the smart city model through various initiatives.
"After coming here, I realised that the President and the government are working for the well being of the society. I am moved. The way the smart city model is being created here has inspired me to contribute to it at larger level.
"I will start my journey to bring the change from my house, then my friends and then the society," Nikita Trivedi, an M.Tech student from IIT-Bhubaneshwar, said.
The programme that concluded today was organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in collaboration with IIT-Delhi. Prabal Talukdar from IIT-Delhi was the faculty coordinator for the scholars.
