Chennai: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday appealed to ‘Gen Z’ and ‘Gen Alpha’ generations, asking them to ‘prioritise the country.’“Gen Z and Gen Alpha, we are ready to listen to you. Educated youth needs to be patient and understand the situation. You have to understand what is happening around you, what’s your role and how you can contribute to the country. My request to Gen Z is that we should not give up our country,” Nirmala Sitharaman said while speaking at the 36th convocation of MGR Educational and Research Institute here.She told the educated youth to put country first and show leadership. “Impulsive decisions should not be taken,” she said.Comparing the current situation to the ones during the First World War and Second World War, she said there is a global uncertainty due to three ongoing major wars.“Despite the wars including Ukraine-Russia war, Israel-Iran war, and the war between Iran and the US, Middle East countries, we are importing goods for our country including gas, crude oil, fertilisers from these countries. Compared to other countries, only India has the stability and we are also growing at 7.8%,” Nirmala Sitharaman added.She attributed the stability to the leadership of PM Modi. “If you go outside the university, there is a severe impact of the wars. But, we have safeguarded the people from the impact of these wars and also delivered growth. Sriperumbudur and Oragadam have the companies with largest exports of cars and mobile phones. The country has stability, growth and if you go out, the atmosphere is good,” the FM said.“There are 350 Global Capability Centres (GCCs) established in Tamil Nadu, which is 10% of total GCCs established in the country. Coimbatore has 80 of them giving jobs to 12,000 youth. Madurai and Trichy also have GCC clusters. There is a bright chance for employment,” she said.On the impact of AI, she said there will not be a single profession without AI and the AI training needs to be imparted to all.As many as 3,200 students graduated at the convocation. Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute Chancellor A C Shanmugam, president A C S Arun Kumar and others participated in the event.
