INDIA LIES IN YOU
Mahatma Gandhi had said “India lies in its villages”. During the fight for independence India was economically backward and most of the population was in rural India. Gandhi realised that for India to progress, rural India had to grow and grow fast. India was sharply divided into the rural backward India and the emerging urban. After sixty years of independence has the divide merged? Does India still exist in its villages?
In the past sixty years India’s growth has been dynamic. Today it is regarded as one of the fastest growing nations in the world and is poised to become the second largest economy after China in the world. The book written by former President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam India 20-20: A Vision for the New Millennium is being seen as a reality. The book says that India’s future lies in its youth. India has the fastest growing youth population. India has a competitive advantage over other countries in terms of education, technological advancement and innovation. The world has started looking towards India for solutions. It has truly arrived on the world scene.
But this remarkable growth has also been flawed by our failure to deal with effectively with mass poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and various forms of religious, social and gender discrimination. After six decades of independence, we have anywhere between one-third to one-fourth of the population desperately poor and denied of the minimum conditions necessary for human existence. All these problems are interconnected. Neither the state intervention with centralised planning or market- oriented high growth in a globalised world has been able to solve the above problems.
On the other hand we have the urban India and its growth has been remarkable. With the best of education available it grew rapidly. After liberalisation and the growth of information technology sector the urban Indian youth is growing rapidly. The disparity between the rural India and the urban India has widened.
Does the growth of rural India solely lie on the Government? Is it not the responsibility of the urban youth to see that their counter parts in rural India also progress? We need to extend our vision beyond times and persons. The urban youth needs to identify with the rural youth and think not only of their individual good but of collective good of the nation.
Meera Chandrasekaran
SSIMS.
India Lies in You
India Lies in YOU
Its time to charge and redefine our national image from being a country synonymous with ancient Vedas to the an emerging superpower. The aim of the event is to make the youth of our country believe that they can be the instruments of change. India lies in you is the representation of a buoyant ‘INDIA’ and a realisation that no change comes without institutional churning The title “India Lies In You” is an apt reminder of our duties and responsibilities towards our beloved motherland. Each individual must acknowledge the fact that as a citizen of the country he/she has certain duties and responsibilities and the extent to which we collectively fulfil them will act as a catalyst in the prosperity of our country.
Though India is emerging as a force to reckon with and its rapid pace of development being the connoisseur of all eyes, there are certain issues which leave a lot to be desired and they need to be tackled head on. .A brand India was born as a promised image of achievement,competence,innovation and excellence.A democracy of one billion people has never existed in the human history. It is a perpetual challenge to governance, well being, sustainability and peace. So, in this 60th year of Independence, we, SSIMS students or the future managers would like to discuss how an individual contribution can bring required change for this nation. Because we feel any change should be led by and guided to make it sustainable and last for the long run. This makes ‘India lies in you’ a platform not to debate, but to organize a discussion involving if not all but few stakeholders, most important being the youth.
INDIA LIES IN YOU is an invitation to you to view individual mobility and affirmative action,the fact of growth with promise of sustainability challenging the new middle classes to play their role in the emerging India. We invite you to the spectacular seminar which will enhance your capabilities to contribute towards your country.
By
Supriya Wagle
SSIMS, Goa.
.
What is India Lies in You for me?
http://nethingunderdasun.blogspot.com/
Contributed by:
Prashit Rane,
Mumbai
'Management lessons from India's freedom fighter'
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/mar/05inter1.htm
Contributed by:
Chetan Bhatt, Entrepreneur
Dubai
India Lies in You
Every time I hear the name India, something in me awakens. India otherwise called Hindustan is a vast land with people from varied cultures but all of us in spite of all differences come together when its for India. India though it is moving towards becoming a fully developed nation is indeed backward in some areas. There are many people who are in suffering and have to strive hard for their daily bread. As the youth of this country, we should take the prosperity of our country as our responsibility. The rhythm should always be there on our mind….."India lies in all of us".
By
Praveen Bhat
SSIMS
Goa.
Introduction
The moment we hear our national anthem, we all stand up in reverence of it. Suddenly, a feeling of patriotism appears within. But does our patriotism end with the national anthem, is what we need to observe. It is, to look within ourselves whether we have the fortitude to stand up for the nation or are we always going to stand up just in admiration of the national anthem. Are we going just sit back and watch the show (nation) just like we do in the theaters after the anthem or are we going to find solutions to resolve what has been going wrong for so long and take an initiative on our own to change situations as a true patriotic?
Summary
With a growing population rate of 1.606% (2007 est.), India is still known as a developing nation…WHY? What holds us back from becoming the superpower instead of just being known as a potential nation? Are we, as Indians contributing to find why we are still not there…? When such questions that jab the conscience arise, we tend to blame it all on the system that runs the nation…POLITICS which then gets linked to corruption, illegal acts, poverty, illiteracy and so on. Blaming it all on the government and the political system becomes an escape root for each one of us to run away from our responsibility and not face our conscience.
INDIA LIES IN YOU is one such initiative taken by the students of Sri Sri Institute of Management Studies to bring awareness among everyone; mainly the youth that are we doing what we are suppose to and are responsible for doing or are we taking the escaping root to criticizing the system.
We always talk about doing things; and we are definitely good at giving suggestions to politicians and the Indian government, but have we ever taken any initiative from our end. Have you ever stopped a person from spitting pan on the street or emptying garbage on the roadside instead of the garbage bin? Who says that your contribution needs to be big…!! It may be the smallest initiative that you take. Who could ever think that a small initiative taken by Dr. Kurien Verghese- the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (started at Anand, Gujarat), would shape up a revolution called ‘Amul’. This initiative went on to be known as Operation Flood which also became the ‘White Revolution’ of India. You do not have to be extraordinary to do something; instead you may just be extra ordinary and yet have the power to bring waves in the nation.
India lies in every Indian, every youngster, every aged, every child…India lies in you and me. It is entirely our responsibility to take the nation ahead. Why wait for the government or some aid foundation to start development projects. We as individuals need to take initiatives on our own to make the nation that we always dreamt about. If you dream about a nation that is green and pollution free, you can participate in environment campaigns or start a green drive on your own by planting trees in your neighborhood. Why wait for someone to knock at your door? If you think that the nation does not have equal career/employment opportunities then generate such opportunities by becoming entrepreneurs. There are so many things each one of us can do. We all have ideas in our heads, but as Buddha has rightly said, “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
India Lies in You is a mode to empower individuals to scream out in silence their initiatives…!! It is to awaken the soul of every India to start the drive of changing the nation from a developing one to a developed one through various initiatives. So friends, now is the time to rise and walk towards the path that would bridge the gap between developing and developed through a revolution called ‘ING to ED’.
By Shweta Gadkari
SSIMS Goa.
India Lies in You
India lies in you
80 years back Mahatma Gandhi beautifully quoted, ‘India lies in its villages’. But today-though not contradicting Gandhiji- this statement brings more relevance when it is said as ‘India lies in you’. This is no pointing out fingers at anyone, but making us realize our responsibility towards our nation. It’s an initiative to contribute to India’s growth story in our own small way because we believe personal growth of an individual can lead to economic growth of a nation.
With India being called an emerging economy, it is important for us to know why that is happening. There are primarily three reasons which makes India poised to become a superpower by :
1) Opening up of the economy in early 90s which led to investments coming in;
2) Consumer India rising to the occasion which has made India’s GDP growth almost reach double digit; and
3) A nation full of young and vibrant population which has sort of become a USP for India.
Now, saying that only rural or urban India has contributed to the growth story would be wrong. It has been an inclusive growth where now ‘the bottom of the pyramid’ is been looked at as a fortune.
So, in this 60th year of Independence, we, SSIMS students or the future managers would like to discuss how an individual contribution can bring required change for this nation. Because we feel any change should be led by and guided to make it sustainable and last for the long run. This makes ‘India lies in you’ a platform not to debate, but to organize a discussion involving if not all but few stakeholders, most important being the youth.
Also, there are ways to contribute to the development of any nation. One, by staying within the border of the country; two, by being on the border and three; by staying outside the border (that is abroad)
Within the border, we have individuals, NGOs, business houses and government. On the border, we have 11 lac soldiers safeguarding us from envied neighbors coupled with other two wings of the defence. And across the border, we have 20 million strong Indian Diaspora living across the globe.
Well, no one way can be termed as right or wrong, as each of them are done with one motive in the mind, to bring a change for nation. What would matter is in our own capacities, how much have we contributed to the sustainable change. Looking at India, with the world’s second largest population, one can see transformation taking place across the three ways we have discussed above.
Through this forum we are bringing together people from different facets of life. There will be students who would express their views and on the other hand, people who have been there and done that. By this we wanted to be inclusive yet contemporary by bringing a panel together which will magnify the reality of working at grassroot level. What challenges does this fragmented and multicultural nation throw at them and how they have dealt with it.
An example can be cited here of Mohan Bhargav, a fictitious character of the movie Swades (meaning my country in Sanskrit). Like him, somewhere in all of us lies the spirit of doing something for our country. Lot of us carry this thought, few transform this thought into action, few take it with them on their deathbed. But in this thought lies India and thus India lies in you. Its ‘We the people’ of India and especially the youth who looks to be awakened but the need of the hour is that their energy needs to be channelised into actionable results.
The point is, whatever you do, wherever you are, ‘India lies in you’. So, irrespective of what others do or not, the onus is on us to lead ourselves and not wait for being led. Wherever and in whichever way possible, as Gandhiji says be the change you want to see. so lets hold hands together and be the change that we want to see and not talk the change that has to be.
So, its you who got to decide, that you want to raise the performance bar in sports, reduce corruption in political system, improve the quality of education or eliminate poverty.
‘India lies in you’ is a thought provoking launch pad for those who participate and take it forward from there.
By
Akshat Singhal
SSIMS Goa.