Date:11/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/11/stories/2007071159070300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Preserve Nature for posterity, youth told

Staff Reporter

We have no right to abuse it: former judge

— Photo: M. Periasamy

REWARD: M. Anita Grace, top ranker in MBA, receiving the Pro-Chancellor’s award for best all-round performance from K.T. Thomas, former Supreme Court Judge (second right), at the convocation of Karunya University in the city on Tuesday.

Coimbatore: Man is the only creature endowed with intellectual and creative faculties. But, it is he who abuses Nature the most for his own selfishness. You should use your intellectual faculty to conquer selfishness, K.T. Thomas, former Supreme Court Judge, said here on Tuesday.

Responsibility

Addressing the convocation of Karunya University, he said: “Man is the most endangered species. But, we do not realise this. We are the ones who endanger the environment the most. We were given the power to protect the rest of the environment. We have no moral right to abuse Nature. If we abuse Nature/creation, then we are abusing the Creator. You, as youth, have the responsibility to preserve it for posterity.”

He asserted that animals and birds did not in any way contribute to the destruction of the environment. He compared the nest of a swallow bird that was built 50 years ago and one that was built now. There was no difference. But the residential dwellings of man that were built 50 years back and that were being built now could not be compared, he said.

Global warming

He urged the candidates to not only learn from seeing the developments that had taken place in the past year, but also from the destructions that had been caused by man. “We have polluted the rivers and made them into cess pools and endangered the marine species. The consequences of global warming are there for us to see. Be warned of the 2035 Apocalypse, predicted by many scientists”, he said.

He urged the teachers to instil in students a love for the country and make them learn what was postulated in the Fundamental Duties of the Indian Constitution.

MBA, MCA and ME candidates received degrees. Chancellor D.G.S. Dhinakaran, Pro-Chancellor Paul Dhinakaran and Vice-Chancellor P.K. Philip spoke.