Need to come out of silos of seductive civil service jobs: V-P Dhankhar

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday expressed concern over the "seductive" draw of the civil services, urging the aspirants to look for "lucrative" opportunities in other fields.

Dhankhar made the observation while addressing the induction programme of the first batch of joint masters/LLM degree in Intellectual Property (IP) Law and Management at National Law University, Delhi.

"...Now, I find the extravaganza of coaching centre advertisements overall in the newspapers... page one, page two, page three are filled up with faces of boys and girls who have made it. The same faces are being used by multiple organisations," the vice president said.

 

"Look at the extravaganza of these advertisements, the cost, every penny of that advertisement has come from those young boys and girls who are in pursuit of securing a future for themselves," he added.

The vice president asked the youths to look around for opportunities in other fields as well.

"The time has come, let us come out of the silos of seductive civil service jobs. We know the opportunities are limited but we have to look away and find there are enormous vistas of opportunities far more lucrative that enable you to contribute (to the nation) massively," Dhankhar said.

He also urged the youth to rebuff and neutralise "forces that keep self-interest above the interest of the country."

He described India as "gold mine" of intellectual property due to its rich cultural and historical heritage and requested the Education Minister to make Vedas available in physical form to every member of the Parliament.

"The Vedas, ancient scriptures forming the foundation of Indian philosophy, spirituality, and sciences, are prime examples of this intellectual treasure," he said, adding, these texts encompass a vast array of concepts ranging from mathematics and astronomy to medicine and architecture, offering insights still relevant today.

He asked students keep the Vedas by their bedside and refer to it to "find solutions to everything."

For India, which is home to one-sixth of humanity, strong IP protection is crucial for attracting foreign investment and fostering technology transfer, he said.

India has made significant strides in strengthening its IP regime and its legislative framework is being progressively aligned with international standards, ensuring robust protection, he added.

"Aryabhatta, Vishwakarma look at the kind of treasure we have. That is our intellectual property. It is the intellectual property we need to monetise, preserve, sustain, and disseminate," he asserted.

"Look at our civilisational ethos of 5,000 years... India, with its rich tradition of creativity and innovation, stands to gain enormously from a robust IP ecosystem. Our country is often referred to, and rightly so, and for a very worthy premise, as a gold mine of intellectual property due to its rich cultural and historical heritage," Dhankhar said.

The vice president said India's traditional practices, such as Ayurveda and Yoga, have gained global recognition, demonstrating the potential for commercialisation of these ancient ideas.

"Imagine a country like ours where Ayurveda is practised. We didn't have an Ayurvedic ministry; it was only in the last ten years that we had one, and no one globally knew what Yoga was.

"Until the Indian Prime Minister went to the United Nations and made a clarion call, there was widespread acceptability among the largest number of nations, leading to the global recognition of June 21 as Yoga Day," he said.

India's thriving innovation ecosystem has helped the country buck the global trend of diminished IP activity, showing rises in patents, trademarks, designs, and geographical indicators, Dhankhar said.

The Indian IP Office reported a 24.6 per cent annual increase in patent filings in the financial year 2023, showcasing the country's rising innovation trajectory, he added.