Youth are new-age power: Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reached out to the country’s youth, saying that the demographic dividend alone would help India attain Swami Vivekananda’s dream of ‘Jagad Guru Bharat’.
Youth are new-age power: Modi

With development and good governance as the leitmotifs, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reached out to the country’s youth, saying that the demographic dividend alone would help India attain Swami Vivekananda’s dream of ‘Jagad Guru Bharat’.

Speaking to the students of the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) here on ‘Emerging Business models in the Global Scenario’, he said the nation could make progress by following Gujarat model, which was based on ‘pro-people, good governance’ principle.

“Gujarat was at the forefront of India’s freedom struggle and now it is being lauded for its development and good governance... Gujarat has the same laws, rules, regulations and Constitution. I want to use the state as an example of how it is possible to progress, with the same parameters,” he said.

He also called for replacing vote bank politics, which he termed the bane of the country, with politics of development. “We have attained ‘Swaraj’ more than 60 years ago. But we are yet to get Su-raaj (the era of good governance),” he pointed out.  The Gujarat Chief Minister, however, lamented that the youth, in the eyes of the political class, were only new-age voters, whereas, actually they were ‘the new-age power’.

“Swami Vivekananda dreamt of a rejuvenated India. Only the youth power can realise this dream. It’s being debated whether the 21st century will be India’s or China’s. I know for sure that it’s the century of knowledge and hence it will be India’s century,” he said.

 Modi emphasised that India needs to be branded globally, as it was one of the youngest nations in the world having 65 per cent of its population below 35 years of age. He pointed out that there were two major challenges before India - how to use the opportunities and how to utilise national resources.

He also threw light on Gujarat model of development, which focused on three areas -- agriculture, industry and services sector.  “If one sector faces problem, the other two would support growth... as such the growth won’t stop,” he said.

“I was once asked if India is still the land of snake-charmers. I said it’s more the land of mouse-charmers where the youth in their 20s, through their computer skills, are re-scripting the world story,” he said.

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