1.It is my privilege to be here with you today for the inauguration of this International Seminar on "Clean and Capable India of Gandhi’s Dream”. At the outset, let me compliment the Rajghat Samadhi Committee for organizing this symposium on a topic of great relevance. I also thank the Committee for giving me the opportunity to share my views before this august audience.

Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance;

Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs;

Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Secretary, Department of Financial Services;

Shri Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD;

Prof. Anil Gupta, Vice Chairman, National Innovation Foundation;

Leaders from banking and financial sectors;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

1.It is indeed a privilege to address this distinguished assembly of Vaidyas and practitioners of Ayurveda.

1.I am happy to be here today and be a part of this Sixty Fourth Convocation of Panjab University, one of the country’s oldest and leading centres of higher education. At the outset, let me thank the University for inviting me and giving the opportunity to address this august gathering.

Your HighnessSheikhTamim bin Hamad Al-Thani,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Your Highness SheikhTamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the distinguished members of your delegation to India on your first State visit.

1.It is my pleasure to join you for the inaugural session of this Mid-Term Meet of National Interventional Council. I am happy to have the opportunity to address this congregation of eminent cardiologists gathered here on the occasion. The Council, which is the interventional arm of the Cardiological Society of India, represents more than 2,000 interventional cardiologists of the country.

1.I am indeed happy to be amidst you this evening to confer the National Geo-science Awards for the year 2013. At the outset, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the recipients of these Awards who have contributed to the growth of geo-sciences in our country through their inspirational and dedicated work.

It is indeed a proud privilege for me to be present amidst you today for the Fourth Annual Convocation of IIM Raipur to deliver the convocation address.

Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Education enriches lives, advances thinking, propagates new thought and enhances human capacity. Given that knowledge will spur growth in the future, it is essential that we prepare a large pool of skilled and capable manpower who can drive rapid economic growth of our country and enable us to deal with poverty, deprivation and backwardness.

1.It is a happy occasion for me to be here today and address you in this tenth Convocation of Mizoram University. I am also glad to have made use of this opportunity to visit Mizoram, which is my first occasion after I assumed the office of the President of India. Let me thank you all for welcoming me to your State and University.

1. It gave me great pleasure to release the postal stamp commemorating the 200 years of the "Old Seminary”in Kottayam. The seminary was set up by theMalankara Orthodox Church situated inKerala, a state known for the peaceful co-existence of different religions and communal harmony.