Ambuj Tripathi
ambuj.tripathi@thelucknowjournal.com
Lucknow, February 17: Thirty-third convocation ceremony of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Monday was very special. On this occasion, 496 out of 2860 successful candidates were awarded degrees in the auditorium of the regional center of IGNOU in Lucknow, among them, acid attack survivors Rupali and Anshu were center of attention in the IGNOU auditorium.
Acid attack survivors Rupali and Anshu set an examples for others
Rupali Vishwakarma resident of Ghazipur district is an attack attack survivor. On July 28, Rupali was attacked with acid. However, Rupali did not stop and became an example for the people today despite fighting with all the difficulties in her life.
Rupali got married on February 4, 2017. Today she also has a small daughter. She is leading a happy life with her husband Kuldeep and daughter Dipanshi. Along with this, she is also encouraging  others. Rupali is steadily moving forward with her strong courage and determination.
Another acid attack survivor Anshu Rajput from Bijnor district was attacked by a 55-year-old man with acid while she was sleeping at night. She was 15-years-old when the incident took place with her. Anshu has also become the strong face of the society who moved forward despite facing all adverse situation in her life.
She said “Girls should not suppress their voices. They have to raise their voices so that more girls listen to them, know their words so that no one else can dare to execute such henious crime.
“People are praising me today because of my courage. People use to search my videos in their smart phones,” said Anshu.
14 personalities honored
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University Lucknow’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Subir Bhatnagar conferred degrees on the qualifying candidates.
He honored 14 personalities for their contribution in the promotion of higher education through free and distance education system, including PK Pundir, Deputy Director, Employment and Service Planning, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Anil Singh, Senior Manager, Khadi And Village Industrial Board, Shaper Kidwai, Passenger Tax Officer, Transport Department, Ram Kripal, Principal, Deendayal Research Institute, Prabhat Ranjan, HCL Technol Mr. Ltd, Seema Gupta, Review Officer, Uttar Pradesh Secretariat, Mukesh Kumar, Dr. Praveen Khare, Mukesh Kumar Singh, safflower Bharti, Anjali Singh, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Shailesh Arora, Dr. Log Dwivedi were mainly involved.
Fight challenges with knowledge and experience
Subir Bhatnagar said that after receiving the degrees, the students will have many opportunities for employment and enterprise but along with it new challenges and social and economic complexities will come which will be solved by the students based on their knowledge and experience.
“Young students who just awarded degrees in their respective fields of studies should strive for the upliftment of society and nation according to their ability through their acquired knowledge and skills,” said Bhatnagar.
87-year-old woman became a source of inspiration for students
On this occasion, IGNOU’s Regional Director Manorama Singh said that the university is making all the efforts to connect the people who are deprived of education in order to bring them in the mainstream of development through right education. In the last academic session, 87-year-old woman Lakshmi Srivastava enrolled in the university and became a source of inspiration for all those who had missed their studies due to some reasons.
He also discussed about the future strategy being devised by the university to make education available at the doorsteps of the public.
Tharu tribe, acid attack victims, Brijwasis, snake charmers all getting education
Kirti Vikram Singh, Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU, said that in the last academic session we had taken responsibility to provide education and upgrade skills to the people living in slums, people of Tharu tribe, acid attack victims, Brijwasi community and snake charmers by the regional center.
Team which presented IGNOU tableau was honored
Along with this, the team which made special presentation in the tableau of IGNOU in Republic Day parade organized in front of the assembly was honored. Through this tableau, students of Tharu tribe of IGNOU demonstrated their culture as well as the efforts made by the university for their educational uplift.
