Economic issues will always be challenging: President

Observing that countries live and operate in times when the world economy is integrated, President Pranab Mukherjee today said dynamics of economy will always be challenging and voiced hope that India will successfully deal with this issue.

"In 2008-09 there was an economic crisis and then there was  Euro crisis. These type of challenges will be there. Nobody can say there will be no challenges," the President said while addressing students of Central University of Himachal Pradesh in Shahpur here on the occasion of their second convocation.

The President, who wished the graduating students of this four-year-old university all success, said, "We live in times when developments happening at the WTO "could affect artisans of a village" in any part of the world.

Mukherjee, himself a former Finance Minister, said the growth of Indian economy has been good and despite a slowdown in 2008-09, India achieved a GDP growth of 9 per cent.

He also told the gathering of students and scholars that any country becomes a superpower by not possessing weapons but by creating technology to further create super technology.

Addressing the students, Mukherjee urged them to put to him as many questions as they want and he will try his best to answer them.

"I will even go back to my career I had left 50 years ago," Mukherjee said, of a being a teacher and get the "flavour of that profession" for the good of curious students.

He also urged the Universities and other institutions of higher learning to give maximum emphasis on research as that would ensure the country a respectable place on the "high table of comity of nations" which are both economically and politically stronger.

He asked the Universities to invest in technology upgradation and start "knowledge networking" by utilising Information Technology and Communication tools.

Voicing concern over Indian universities and institutes not figuring on the list of top 200 world class institutes, he said, "Almost like a parrot I have been repeating (this issue). I feel sad that as per international rating agencies, in a list of 200 Universities no single Indian institute finds its place."

He said while interacting with VCs and Directors of Indian institutes he got to know that while they impart the best of education, certain things were not projected properly."I told them (VCs) rather bluntly that these things need to be projected and presented in an appropriate manner," he said.