Address at the National Youth Awards, Pune, Maharashtra

My Mission is My Nation

I am delighted to be here to participate in the valedictory function of the 12th National Youth Festival in this beautiful Shri Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex, Pune. When I see thousands of youth with various native talents assembled here, I realize the potential of our youth coming from all parts of the country. I congratulate all the National Youth Award winners. When youth and their dynamic action are channelised into artistic and cultural and societal activities, I am sure they will electrify the whole nation with their creativity and innovation and above all by their sweat and excellent performance in multiple fields. The combined power of the youth ignited by their team spirit will be the most powerful resource of all resources on the earth, above the earth and under the earth to promote peace, progress and prosperity on planet Earth which happens to be theme of this festival. Let us study how the human life originated, progressed and its dynamics today.

Origin of Life

Ancient human history has been revealed beautifully by Paleoanthropology. Life originated 600 million years ago and continental drift occurred 200 million years ago creating five continents. Mammals evolved 140 million years ago, Hominids that is the human type, evolved 26 million years ago but modern man only arrived on the scene some 200,000 years ago. He migrated and colonized the world only in the last 50,000 years. The spoken language is some 10,000 years old while writing evolved only a few thousand years ago. All this phenomenal progress has been achieved only within the short span of 200 to 400 generations, that is in just 5,000 to 10,000 years. Advances in genetics demonstrating great similarity in the genome of man and animals shows that the limbic brain perhaps is the cause for all conflicts within and outside. So far human society, from origin until now has always been at war within and between groups and has led to two World Wars and subsequently the decade has seen two more wars. Presently, terrorism and low intensity warfare are affecting many parts of the world.

Newer DNA technologies have given us better insight in retracing the history of man. ?The DNA of a human being is his history book ever written?. Nowadays intelligence, cognizance, drug response, behavioral problems every thing is related to genes: disease gene mapping is progressing at a faster pace with new age DNA technology. It is probably during the 50,000-30,000 years of co-existence that societies have evolved adopting newer innovations and cultures.

Thus the ?Nature ? Nurture? philosophy holds good even in this Genomic Era: ?Genes? what we inherit from our parents is the basis; a beautiful ?building? is built over it, be it sports, arts, culture, science or any unique creation, the environment plays a crucial role in shaping the destiny of the individual and leading to excellence. It is just the opportunity that makes Man. All children when they are born are equally poised to become a great scholar or an artist or scientist or a great sportsman. I am sure, the national youth festival is a forum, that enables recognition of the innate native qualities of the individuals and nurture them for achieving excellence in their chosen field. Definitely youth festival should be the mechanism to inspire the youth Since, I am in the midst of members participating in the 12th National Youth Festival, who represent the 540 million youth of the nation, I would like to discuss on the topic ?I can do it? which should become the spirit of every youth of the nation. Promotion of peace has to be achieved through national development and prosperity.

Ambience in the Nation

Dear young friends, you are seeing a different India. In Indian history, very rarely has our nation come across a situation, all at a time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange reserves, reduced rate of inflation, global recognition of our technological competence, energy of 540 million youth, umbilical connectivities of 20 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet, and interest shown by many developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists including setting up of new Research & Development Centers. The distinction between public and the private sectors and the illusory primacy of one over the other is vanishing. India as the largest democracy in the world, has a reputation for its democracy and for providing leadership for one billion people with multi-cultural, multi-language and multi-religious backgrounds. Our technological competence and value systems with civilizational heritage are also highly respected. Foreign Institutional Investors are finding investing in India attractive. Indians are also investing abroad and opening new business ventures.

Our National Mission - Challenges

Our nation is going through a major challenge of uplifting of 220 million people who are below the poverty line and also to give better life for many millions who are on the border line of poverty or just above the poverty line. They need a decent habitat, they need work with reasonable income, they need food, they need speedy access to health care, and they need education and finally they need a good life and hope for a better future. Our GDP is growing at more than 8% per annum on an average. Whereas, the economists suggest that to uplift the people from below the poverty line, our economy has to grow at the rate of 10% per annum consistently, for over a decade.

Integrated action: To meet the need of one billion people, we have the mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country. (3) Education and Healthcare (4) Information and Communication Technology (5) Strategic sectors. These five areas are closely inter-related and if properly implemented, will lead to food, economic and national security of our country.

Engines for Growth: Emphasis should be on full utilization of natural and human resources of the nation to meet the demands of the modern society. We should also remember that about 54% of our population is youth with aspirations for a better living. Ignited youth power is an important resource. Value addition in Agriculture, Manufacturing and Service sectors, building the national core competence and technologies will lead to additional high income employment potential. The engines for growth will be accelerated by launching of the five national missions viz. water, energy, education and skills, infrastructure and employment generation. The totality of these five missions will enable achievement of 10% GDP growth rate per annum. It is possible to do so with ecological and economic sustainability. It is not only the mission of governments. It is a collective effort of big and small businesses, science and technology and academic institutions, foreign investors, and many others who have confidence about India.

With these aspects in view, we have already laid down the road map. The priority for the government is to convert the road map into various missions. It is to be done in a decentralized manner allowing a greater role for private enterprise and local initiatives and youth participation. While converting the vision into different missions we need to have a coherent thinking among all the members of the society. All of us have to think that the nation is greater than an individual or an organization. All of us should believe, that ?we can do it?. This is particularly important for all the youth who have assembled here. Now, I would like to administer a seven point oath to all of you which specifies the role of youth in promoting peace, progress and prosperity. Are you ready?

Seven Point Oath

1. I realize, I have to set a goal in my life. To achieve the goal, I will acquire the knowledge, I will work hard, and when the problem occurs, I have to defeat the problem and succeed.

2. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.

3. I shall always keep myself, my home, my surroundings, neighbourhood and environment clean and tidy.

4. I realize righteousness in the heart leads to beauty in the character, beauty in the character brings harmony in the home, harmony in the home leads to order in the nation and order in the nation leads to peace in the world.

5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others including my home to adopt a righteous way of life.

6. I will light the lamp of knowledge in the nation and ensure that it remains lit for ever.

7. I realize, whatever work I do if I do the best, I am contributing towards realizing the vision of developed India 2020.

Conclusion

If all the youth collectively work for this mission, I can visualize the scene prevalent in the country in the year 2020. We expect the people below poverty line to come to near zero and our literacy nearly 100%. Human Development Index of India will be around 50. Every Indian will have either a university degree or quality training with employable vocational skill. E-governance would be in position for all Government to Government (G2G) and Government to Citizen (G2C) transactions making the governance system transparent with citizen identity card in position. Tele-density will reach over 75%. All our villages will be electrified. The interlinking of the rivers and water bodies will result in equitable distribution of water in irrigation, drinking and navigation and there will be no shortage of water. India would have realized energy security and will be working towards energy independence. Sanitary facility will reach every home. We will be using more of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind power and thorium based nuclear energy and adding less to the pollution. Through venture capital system and entrepreneurial training both in schools and colleges, we will have more enterprises leading to large number of employment generators rather than employment seekers. A pro-active healthcare system in place will provide quality healthcare to all the people of the country including those living in remote areas at an affordable cost through innovative schemes. The country will become a destination for world citizens coming to India for quality affordable medical attention. All children will have an opportunity to take up the courses of their choice in higher education. Many education institutions will provide education to global citizens through internet. I am sure; you will all see prosperity in the country which will replace scarcity and control.

Imagine the efforts needed to achieve this mission. Based on my visits to all the states and union territories and my discussions with many people from different walks of life, I am convinced that it is possible for the country to be developed by 2020. I request all of you to participate in this mission of Developed India 2020 and to make it reality by your ?I can do it spirit?. Best wishes for success in all your missions.

May God bless you!