The 49th Conference of Governors concluded on Tuesday with President Ram Nath Kovind’s call to Governors to adopt modern technology and IT initiatives, including real-time dashboards, so that Raj Bhavans could motivate other institutions in states to follow them.

In his concluding remarks, the President said Governors can inspire universities towards USR (University Social Responsibility).

University students should visit villages at regular intervals, he said, and engage with residents on cleanliness, literacy, immunisation and nutrition programmes.

Governors could hold discussions with Vice Chancellors to make the ‘Swachhta Internship’ programme more effective, he said.

Expressing concern over vacancies of Vice-Chancellors and teachers at higher levels, the President said the Human Resource Development Ministry and the University Grants Commission had made some suggestions on this, and the Governors could make use of them for the selection of suitable candidates. These proposals were included in the action taken report on the 2017 Governors conference, he said.

The President urged the Governors to convene meetings of Vice Chancellors of state universities from time to time. Some Governors were already doing this, he noted. He emphasised that the agenda of such conferences could be decided in consultation with the VCs.

And to find quick solutions, representatives of State Education and Finance Departments, as well as officials from the Union HRD Ministry, the UGC and other institutions, could be invited.

Today was World Environment Day, the President said. The approach of ‘Think Global, Act Local’ is considered effective for environment protection. Keeping in mind Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris

Accord and the International Solar Alliance, he said that local and state-level contributions were important to achieving national goals.

The Directive Principles of the Constitution specifically mentioned issues of the environment and conservation of forests and wildlife. In this context, Governors can make efforts to develop Raj Bhavan complexes and state universities as an environmental ideal, he said.

The Vice President, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs addressed the concluding session of the Conference. The Governors discussed ideas on the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Presentations were made on the Gram