He admitted that the promise of India, a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, has sometimes been mislaid by misfortune and at other times by our own complacence and weakness.
"Destiny has given us another opportunity to recover what we have lost; we will have no one to blame but ourselves if we falter," he said.
On democracy, Mukherjee said "some cynics may scoff at our commitment to democracy but our democracy has never been betrayed by the people; its fault-lines, where they exist, are the handiwork of those who have made power a gateway to greed.
"We do feel angry, and rightly so, when we see democratic institutions being weakened by complacency and incompetence. If we hear sometimes an anthem of despair from the street, it is because people feel that a sacred trust is being violated."
The President said India has grown into a beautiful, vibrant and sometimes noisy democracy which was not a gift but a fundamental right of every citizen.
"...For those in power democracy is a sacred trust. Those who violate this trust commit sacrilege against the nation," he said.
Speaking about the economic health of the country, the President said the slowdown of economy in the last two years can be some cause of concern but none for despair.
"The green shoots of revival are already visible. The agricultural growth in the first half of this year has touched 3.6 per cent and rural economy is buoyant," he said.
Mukherjee said a democratic nation is always involved in argument with itself. "This is welcome, for we solve problems through discussion and consent, not force. But healthy differences of opinion must not lead to an unhealthy strife within our polity," he said.
He said India must find its own solutions to its problems and be open to all knowledge. "To do otherwise would be to condemn our nation to the misery of a stagnant mire. But we should not indulge in the easy option of mindless imitation, for that can lead us to a garden of weeds."
Recalling India's ancient institutions of excellence in education, Mukherjee said the quality of education has to be the country's focus now.
"We can be world leaders in education, if only we discover the will and leadership to take us to that pinnacle," he said.
Calling for an educational revolution, he said "education is no longer just the privilege of the elite, but a universal right. It is the seed of a nation's destiny."
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