Delhi gangrape has left our hearts empty, our minds in turmoil: Pranab Mukherjee

"We can neither evade nor abandon this national commitment, for the price of neglect will be high. Vested interests do not surrender easily. The civil society and the government must work together to fulfil this national goal," he said.

Mukherjee emphasised on the importance of education calling it the ladder that can help those at the bottom to rise to the pinnacles of professional and social status.

"So far education has not reached, to the extent desired, to those most in need of this ladder. India can double its growth rate by turning today's disadvantaged into multiple engines of economic development," he said.

The President said on the 64th Republic Day, there may be some reason for concern, but none for despair.

"If India has changed more in six decades than six previous centuries, then I promise you that it will change more in the next ten years than in the previous sixty. India's enduring vitality is at work," he said.

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