President Murmu urges law students to serve the unserved, underprivileged

Cuttack, July 26 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday urged law students to dedicate some part of their professional time to serving the unserved or underprivileged.

Addressing the convocation of the National Law University at Cuttack, Murmu said a very large number of our under-privileged and vulnerable fellow citizens don’t even know about their rights and entitlements, nor do they have the means to move the courts to seek relief or justice. She told the students that it is their duty to dedicate some part of their professional time to serve them.

It is rightly said that law is not just a career, it is a calling, she added.

The President said that India’s freedom struggle was led by qualified lawyers. It shows that a large number of lawyers from those generations were filled with the spirit of sacrifice for the nation.

Remembering Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, popularly referred to as Madhu Barrister, she said that his birth anniversary is celebrated as ‘Lawyers Day’ in Odisha.

For the people of Odisha, Mahatma Gandhi and Madhu Barrister are the two most respected icons of India's freedom struggle. Great freedom fighters and lawyers like them also upheld the ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in order to build a progressive and cohesive society, she stated.

The President urged students to remain steadfast in observing the Constitutional ideals. She advised them to be sensitive to the priorities of the nation. 

Referring to the motto ‘Satye Sthito Dharmah’ of the National Law University Odisha, which means ‘Dharma is firmly rooted in Satya or truth’, the President said that in ancient India the two words frequently used to describe courts were ‘Dharmasabha’ and ‘Dharmadhikarana’.

For today’s modern India, our Dharma is contained in the Constitution of India, which is the supreme law of the land. She said that the entire legal fraternity, including the young students passing out today, must abide by the Constitution as their sacred text.

Earlier, Murmu, who is on a three-day visit to Odisha, graced the annual function of SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. The President said that one cannot become a good doctor until one has sincerity towards service and commitment to the society.

She urged medical students to focus on research, which would give a new identity to Indian medical scientists in the world.