Urging Indian youth to make an impact on the global scene, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the foundation laid in the last eight to nine years in every domain has prepared the runway for the youth to take off and achieve new heights.
Speaking after the inauguration of the 26th National Youth Festival at Hubballi, Modi said, “For every mission a foundation is required. Whether it is the economy or education, sports or startups, skill development or digitisation… In every domain, a strong foundation is laid in the last eight to nine years. The runway is ready for your take off.”
Describing the youth of the nation as ‘Yuva Shakthi’, he said that its “dreams (will) decide India’s direction, Yuva Shakthi’s aspirations will decide its destination and its passion will decide India’s path”. “To harness Yuva Shakthi, we need to be young with our thoughts, with our efforts,” the prime minister added.
Today, there was great optimism in the world towards India and its youth, he said. “There are global voices saying that this century is India’s century. There are global surveys saying that a majority of big investors want to invest in India. They want to invest in you,” Modi told the gathering, adding that it was a “historic moment when optimism and opportunity were coming together”.
To ensure that the 21st century is India’s century, he said that it was essential for the youth to think 10 steps ahead”. Our thinking and approach should be futuristic…Positive disruption is essential to move ahead of developed nations,” he said.
Modi advised the youth to take lessons from Swami Vivekananda to forge ahead in life, key being the advice that there were three phases for any new idea — “ridicule”, “opposition” and “acceptance”. Projects initiated by the Union government, such as digital payments, Swacch Bharath Abhiyaan, indigenous Covid vaccines etc are the examples, he said.
“Despite initial opposition, India has become world leader in digital payments today and the achievements of the indigenous vaccine are being discussed around the world,” he said. “Your new ideas will be ridiculed, opposed. (But) If you are confident about it, stick to it. Your success will be bigger than the thinking of those who ridicule you.”
The youth festival, in which more than 7,500 youth delegates from different parts of the country are taking part, will be held till January 26.
