‘Maha Kumbh’ of young minds in January to connect youth to politics: PM Modi

“Two thousand such youth selected from villages, blocks, districts, and States will gather at Bharat Mandapam (Delhi) for the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue,” said Mr. Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue would be organised in New Delhi on January 11-12 next year as part of efforts to connect youth from non-political backgrounds to politics. The event will mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on January 12, celebrated as Youth Day.

“Crores of youth from all over India will participate. Two thousand such youth selected from villages, blocks, districts, and States will gather at Bharat Mandapam (Delhi) for the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue,” said Mr. Modi during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address. He said to connect 1 lakh such youth to politics, many special campaigns would be run.

“Today is NCC Day... I myself have been an NCC cadet, so I can say with full confidence that the experience gained from it is invaluable for me. NCC instills a spirit of discipline, leadership and service in the youth... Whenever there is a disaster, be it a flood, an earthquake or an accident, NCC cadets unfailingly make themselves available there to help,” said Mr. Modi.

The Prime Minister said the number of girls in NCC, just around 25% before 2014, now stood at almost 40% and the campaign to connect more youth residing along the border with the NCC was under way.

Praising youngsters working selflessly for the society and engaged in finding solutions to various problems, he cited the example of Virendra from Lucknow who helps the elderly in getting digital life certificates. “Mahesh from Bhopal has taught many elderly people of his locality to make payments through mobile... Rajiv from Ahmedabad warns people about the risk of ‘Digital Arrest’ scam,” he said.

On the significance of books, Mr. Modi said a library, Prakrith Arivagam, has been set up in Chennai by Shriram Gopalan. After returning to India from abroad, he established the library which has over 3,000 books. It also organises activities such as storytelling sessions, art workshops, memory training classes, robotics lessons and public speaking.

Recounting his visit to Guyana, the Prime Minister talked about a “Mini India” of those who were taken there around 180 years ago to work in the fields and for other tasks. “Today, people of Indian origin in Guyana are leading the country in every field. The President of Guyana, Dr. Irfan Ali, is also of Indian origin and is proud of his Indian heritage,” he said, urging people to be on the lookout for, and share, stories of how Indian immigrants made their mark in different countries.

The Prime Minister said in order to conserve and promote Indian culture in Slovakia, the Upanishads have been translated into the Slovak language.

On protecting the environment, Mr. Modi said the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ drive has crossed the milestone of planting 100 crore trees in just five months. In Indore, over 12 lakh trees were planted in 24 hours and in Jaisalmer, women planted 25,000 trees in one hour.

The Prime Minister expressed concern over the declining sparrow population due to increasing urbanisation. “Chennai’s Kudugal Trust has involved school children in its campaign to increase the number of sparrows in the last four years, it has prepared 10,000 such nests for sparrows. With this initiative, the sparrow population has started rising in the surrounding areas.” he said.

Published - November 24, 2024 12:03 pm IST