Turn human resources among young into human capital, urges Naidu
Kolkata, June 29 : Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Friday called for turning the "potential asset" of the country's vast young population into an "actual asset", otherwise it would be a "missed opportunity".
He made the remarks while addressing a gathering here on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
Describing the importance of Mahalanobis' application-driven research in the field of statistics, the Vice President also said that statistics is truly the backbone of good governance and it is absolutely essential for planning and indispensible for monitoring and evaluation.
"We need to harness the power of computing, communication and robotics to improve the quality of life...and to make informed choices, we need data, we need statistics, we need tools to analyse and synthesise," Naidu said.
The Vice President added: "Over 65 per cent of our population is under 35 years of age. This demographic statistics is significant if we can turn this potential asset into and actual asset.
"If we fail to tap into this reservoir of human resources and turn it into human capital, it will be a missed opportunity and the country would have to cope with a number of socio-economic consequences including poverty, inequality, social unrest and unsustainable growth."
According to Naidu, people now live in a world in which knowledge explosion, information overload and data-driven lives have become common place.
Naidu said statistics and big data management along with artificial intelligence would play an even more significant role in the years to come.
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Firefighting equipment at Jhansi hospital 'completely fine': UP Dy CM
Lucknow/Jhansi (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday dismissed media reports that the Jhansi Medical College, where a blaze claimed the lives of 10 newborns, had expired fire extinguishers.
In a statement, Pathak said a fire safety audit was carried out at the medical college in February and a mock drill was conducted in June.
At least 10 children died on Friday night in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state's Bundelkhand region, possibly due to an electrical short circuit. Another 16 children are battling for life after being injured in the incident.
Some media reports have claimed that the hospital had expired fire extinguishers and faulty alarms.
"The Yogi Adityanath government is standing with the children and their families. Our staff, doctors, and rescue team have worked bravely to save the children. All the firefighting equipment in the medical college was completely fine. A fire safety audit was conducted here in February and a mock drill was also conducted in June," Pathak said in the statement.
Principal of the medical college, Dr Narendra Singh Sengar, also termed as "baseless" the allegations that the hospital had expired fire extinguishers.
"A total of 146 fire extinguisher systems are installed in the medical college. At the time of the accident, the fire extinguisher of the NICU ward was also used. All these equipment are also audited from time to time. During this, the deficiencies are removed," Sengar said.
"All these were audited in February while a mock drill was conducted in June. The claim of fire extinguishers being faulty in the medical college is completely baseless. The fire broke out in the ward due to a short circuit. The accident is being investigated," he added.
Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police Sudha Singh told reporters that the 16 injured children are being treated. All the doctors are available for them with adequate medical facilities, she said.
Singh said there were inputs that some parents took their kids home after the fire erupted in the NICU. She said efforts were underway to find out the exact number of children who were in the NICU when the fire broke out and their current status.
"The medical college has informed that 52 to 54 children were admitted at the time of the incident and 10 of them have died while 16 are undergoing treatment... verification for others is ongoing," Singh said.
The rescue operation in the NICU was completed at around 1 am, she added.
