Today, the prime minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated the National Defense University to the
nation and addressed its first convocation at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah attended the convocation ceremony. Many dignitaries, including the Governor of Gujarat, Shri Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel, were present.
In his address, the Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that from 2002 to 2013, when Shri Narendra Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat, he started looking at law and order from a new perspective. From the time of the British, there was a tradition that people looked at work in the area of law and order and the police force merely as a job. However, when Shri Modi assumed the Chief Ministership of Gujarat, the first step he took was to modernize the police force. Under his leadership, Gujarat became the first state to computerize police stations completely. Shri Modi prepared the ground for state-of-the-art software to connect police stations. Priority was given to the recruitment of constables with working knowledge of computers, a detailed training program of all in service constables was conducted, and the entire police force was computerized. After this, the task of connecting jails and forensic laboratories was also carried out.
Shri Amit Shah said that the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi took three major initiatives – to build the best Law University in the country, envisioned a National Defence University and a world-class Forensic Science University was also established in Gujarat. By making all the three aspects related to law and order at a university, Shri Modi provided this facility to the youth by connecting them with training from the very outset. Shri Modi made large-scale systemic changes in Gujarat and placed a model before the country. If students are trained in a particular area, they will be able to come forward and contribute in their area of training. He said that after modernization and computerization, the conviction rate of Gujarat Police increased by 22 per cent in just three years. Whether it is Research and Development, experts or government workers who need to be produced, all these aspects were started by the Prime Minister.
The Union Home Minister said that in 2014, when the people provided an opportunity to Shri Modi to serve the Nation by electing him the Prime Minister, he tried to bring changes according to the needs of the times by breaking established practices in every field, by bringing in a different approach. The National Defence University is also an example of this. The National Forensic Science University and the National Defence University have become a reality. It is a matter of pleasure for me that National Defence University is working with many organizations in different fields to provide helpful guidance to fulfil their needs. The expansion of the National Defence University will take place rapidly in the coming times, on similar lines as the National Forensic Science University, which has entered into agreements with the governments of seven States to open campuses of the National Forensic Science University in three States. Similarly, the National Defence University will also strive to open its campuses region wise. The National Defence University provides a suitable environment and infrastructure to professionally train students working at three levels of recruitment – Constable, PSI and DYSP – to handle law and order, to make them Karma Yogis as envisioned by Shri Modi.
Shri Amit Shah said there could be a radical change in this field only when professionalism and the Karma Yogis is working in this field also feel a sense of pride. 1,091 students of five batches from the year 2018 till present will receive their degrees today, and I want to tell them that you can contribute in some way or the other in the field of your choice.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said students would be receiving their Degrees at the hands of a person whom the Nation and the world also consider its leader and is eager to hear his views in every field. I would also like to say to all the students studying here that we aim to work diligently to fix law and order in the country and strengthen internal security. When National Defence University campuses will open across the country and trained students will work in the police forces in different areas and as experts in the support system of the police, then the task of running police forces in the country with a sense of unity will be achieved by the National Defence University.
