The founder-chancellor of VIT, G. Viswanathan, inaugurated the Women’s league of ‘Shivkalin Mardani Khel’, an Indian martial arts in Maharashtra, at its campus in Vellore on Saturday.
Speaking at the event, organised by TamilNadu Ashtedu Akhada Association, he said that traditional martial arts in the country like Silambattam (Tamil Nadu), Kalaripayattu (Kerala), Gatka (Punjab), Pari Khanda (Bihar), Kathi Samu (Andhra Pradesh) and Thang-Ta (Manipur) should be learnt by youngsters as it will help to preserve the art and culture of the respective regions. “Such traditional martial arts should be taught to ensure that it is taken forward to our future generations. The VIT always supports such initiatives,” he said.
The Chancellor said that at present, around 26 crore students have been studying in schools and around four crore students in colleges in the country. Such traditional sports should be encouraged among them as it will help the country win more accolades in national and international sports competitions, he said.
Apart from encouraging such traditional sports, he said that higher studies, especially research studies should be adequately funded by the Centre and the States. Poor fund allocation has been reflected in the number of patents registered by India. For example, South Korea tops in the total number of patents registered with 2,000 patents for every one million population; USA (1,000 patents), China (296 patents) and India (only six patents for every one million population), he said.
G.V. Selvam, vice-president, VIT, was present on the occasion.
