A doctorate honorary is awarded to musicians Ilayaraja and Sivaraman by Prime Minister Modi

Chennai, Nov 11

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday presented honorary doctorates to renowned musicians, Ilayaraja and Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman at the Gandhigram Rural Institute in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul.

Ilayaraja -- a renowned Tamil and south Indian music composer, is a widely respected personality in the world of music, while Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman is a noted instrumentalist of southern India.

The Prime Minister arrived in Madurai at a special aircraft from Bengaluru and was received at the airport by Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, Ministers K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, Thangam Thenarassu, Moorthy, former Chief Ministers K. Palaniswami, O. Panneerselvam, among others.

Senior leaders of the BJP and the AIADMK were also present at the airport to receive the Prime Minister.

Modi then proceeded to Gandhigram Rural institute in a helicopter with Governor Ravi accompanying him.

The Prime Minister was received at the helipad by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, and Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, L. Murugan, among others.

PM Modi said that Gandhian values are becoming increasingly relevant.

He said that Gandhian ideals are valid in ending conflicts as well as in climate crisis and said that Mahatma Gandhi's ideals have solutions to many of the issues faced by the world, he said while speaking at the 36th convocation ceremony of Gandhigram Rural Institute in Dindigul.

Modi said that Gandhigram Rural Institute was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi himself, and one can see the spirit of his ideals at the institute.

"Khadi was forgotten for a long but through the call 'Khadi for Nation, Khadi for Fashion', it has become very popular," he said.

The Prime Minister said that Mahatma Gandhi had seen Khadi as a tool of self-reliance in villages, and through the self-reliance of villages, he had sown the seed for a self-reliant India.

Modi said that Atmanirbhar Bharat was an idea inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's self-reliant villages concept.

"You are the builders of new India. You have the responsibility to take India to its Amrit Kaal, the next 25 years," he told students who attended the convocation ceremony.

--IANS