Gawedewadi:President Pratibha Patil on Monday hailed the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, noting that Indias tradition of peace and brotherhood helped it gain international acceptance to trade in nuclear energy without signing the NPT or the CTBT.

"Because of Indias tradition of brotherhood ingrained in our psyche the world recognises India as a peaceful nation. This has helped us gain acceptance from international community to use nuclear energy peacefully, despite not signing the NPT or the CTBT," Patil said.

She was speaking at a function in Gawedewadi village, which is one of the three self-reliant villages in Maharastha and one that has seen reverse migration from cities.

The president expressed happiness over the economic well being of the villagers. "After Independence we thought by educating the youth our problem of unemployment would be solved but the youth started migrating to cities," she said.

Quoting from Thomas Friedmans The World is Flat, Patil said "there was a time when in Britain people told their children to have their breakfast else children from India or China would take it away. Today they say do your homework or else, they will take your jobs."

Praising veteran Gandhian Mohan Dharia, Patil said she wanted to his visit his village to see the "commendable" work done there by Dharias social organisation- Vanarai.
Source : DNA