POST SUMMIT REPORT

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Young Indians organized the 11th Yi National Summit on the theme “Youth Leadership- Ideas to Agenda: Intent to Action” on 13 March 2015 at Hotel Lalit in New Delhi. The summit was inaugurated by Kailash Satyarthi, Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan. G V Sanjay Reddy, Founder Chairman, Young Indians & Vice Chairman, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd delivering the special address spoke on Yi and its members across 37 chapters contributing significantly to nation building, youth leadership and international engagements. Speaking on the theme of the summit, he attracted attention to efforts undertaken by Kailash for the benefit of children. He said that Kailash was a great inspiration for Yi, given his resilience in the journey to see the smiles on the faces of children. Emphasizing globalization, compassion, justice, equality and freedom, Sanjay articulated that both Yi and Kailash shared a common vision and this opportunity must be utilized to translate objectives into actions. “Work in silence, let success make all the noise” is a caption that I remember reading in one of the offices and I want to mention it here, because these wordings denote the achievements of Kailash and how he has gone about his work with less support and lesser noise” said Sanjay. He also called upon the leadership of Yi in launching the 50th Yi chapter in the country and in the process, also open the 1st overseas chapter in due course.

Speaking at the session and delivering the inaugural address, Kailash Satyarthi outlined the aspirations in youth that transforms objective into action. While picking out points shared earlier by him at the G-7 summit on Sustainable Supply Chain, he elaborated on transparency and said that it was the key to fair processes. According to him, the complexity of large manufacturing companies result in corrupt practices in production process, namely, employing dubious sub- contractors, child labour, to name a few.

Explaining the importance of education in eradicating child labour, he stressed that children and young people with good education should seek better opportunities and avoid working in factories. He observed that the perception of India has undergone change and countries across the globe viewed India as an emerging superpower. “25 years back, when I travelled to Europe, very few knew about India and people who knew about India would associate her with poverty. Today, the situation has taken a dramatic change for the better. I am happy to be one of the new faces of modern India around the world, but my face is also an indication of the challenges that the country faces, especially in the

way we have trated our children” he said and called upon the young people, who were part of Young Indians to become agents of change.

“You all have the will power and the confidence to challenge things around you, just go for it. There is no use of will power if you do not act upon

things that are not right” he remarked and recalled a few incidents on his efforts in rescuing children from bonded labour from various parts of the country. Emphasizing the entrepreneurial stage in India, he pointed out that courage and conviction were central to good leadership. He invoked the 3Ds essential for success, namely, Dream, Discover and Do. In so doing, he gave weightage on action over discovery, as this lead to outcome which may otherwise confine its reach within theoretical frameworks. He added, “India may face a hundred problems, but she is a land of 1 billion solutions. People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity are the 4 Ps of the world.” As expected, his talk received a thunderous applause from the members of the audience, in front of whom Kailash released the copies of the Yi National Annual report for

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2014-15 and the booklet on Project Komal.

Shaurya Veer Himatsingka, National Vice Chairman, Young Indians delivered the concluding remarks by pledging support to the work of Kailash Satyarthi and thanked him for the words of encouragement. The next session started off with the introduction by D N V Kumara Guru, National Chairman, Young Indians and Director- External Relations, Indian School of Business. Speaking about entrepreneurship, he explained that India is an emerging

superpower in the world and talked about the contributions of youth towards the changing scenario of start-ups in India. Sunil Kant

Munjal, Past President, Confederation of India Industry and Joint Managing Director, Hero Motocorp

Ltd shared his views on India on the manufacturing sector. He started off with a famous saying by author Mark Twain on India which went as “India is the cradle of human race and birthplace of human speech”. Shedding beam on manufacturing issues, he focused on vital discussions on economy and its recent developments in manufacturing and how ‘Make in India’ campaign would enlarge the scope of opportunities. While emphasizing on issues of bureaucracy in India, he traced the efforts undertaken by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with the motto to empower youth, manufacturing sector and industry. While taking about the entrepreneurial stage, he encouraged young people to be ambitious and begin start-ups in India. Expounding on numerous choices, he noted that society was gearing

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towards cleanliness to instill civic responsibility, participation in governing bodies and awareness of nation building. He then proceeded to share some incidents in bicycling industry that took place about 40 years ago when chemicals and acids were used in the manufacturing process which released hazardous chemicals in the environment. “Given the increased awareness about environment, Hero Motocorp Ltd was among the few businesses in the industry which undertook action in making special provisions for water and acid treatment for the bicycle industry” he said and spoke about action to protect environment and social interests by requesting the participants to lead large scale measures and create the desired impact. He concluded the session at a positive spirit and voiced a positive message for young entrepreneurs by asking them to multiply in numbers and bring about a change. This was followed by a panel discussion on “India in the Emerging World Order” moderated by Rishi Suri, Editor (International Affairs) The Daily Milap. It began with an excerpt from Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru’s famous speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’ weaved into the present scenario of India in globalization. Cesare Onestini, Charge d’Affaires a.i. Delegation of the European Union to Union defined European and its functions that formulate effective systems to share common interests. Cesare explained that the European Union (EU) was a political- economic union of 28 member states located in Europe, which consisted of institutions like the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the Court of Auditors and the European Parliament. He mentioned that the European Parliament was elected every five years by EU citizens to undertake services under governance, foreign relations, humanitarian aid, infrastructure, energy, education and science to name a few. “These measures help in developing solutions and combating challenges”, added Cesare. Explaining the features of European Union on internal securities and integration in South East Asia, he expressed that India and the European Union can come together and discuss issues on trade and sustainability. Cesare noted that India was ready for a take-off at the global arena and act upon steps in the face of globalization. According to him, the industrial and entrepreneurial ecosystems in India have evolved to cooperate and serve the best interests of both the nations. Thereafter, Michael Pelletier, Deputy Chief Mission Embassy of the United States of America in India said that USA saw India as an emerging superpower and an important ally. He mentioned that both India and

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USA shared common values and that this relationship would certainly enhance ties between the nations. Michael pointed out that the key point of the relationship between India and the USA was the visit of the President of United States Barack Obama to India. He stressed that the visit of the President of US to India in the year and the first time that a US President has visited a country twice during his term underlined the importance of India in the emerging world order and the willingness of US to engage in strengthening stability, peace, global security, exchange of ideas and execution of initiatives. “ One such initiative is ‘Strategic Plus’ which adopts a joint vision for the Asia Pacific region aiming at providing peace, prosperity and power to the different regions” he mentioned. On economic growth, he commended the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the government and the boost that it would bring to economic growth, cooperation and global development. Under global sustainability, he highlighted that US and India would be collaborating on clean energy systems, smart grids and energy.

The next session on “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?” was moderated by Navita Mahajan, Chair- Yi (Leadership Academy) and Research and Development Education Consultant. Raj Raghunathan, Professor of Marketing, McCombs School of Business University of Texas and Visiting Scholar, Indian School of Business began the session by asking self-reective questions, such as “How many of you are really smart?” and “What does happiness mean?”. He recalled having conceived the idea 15 years ago inviting old classmates from IIM Kolkata to a course on happiness. As the course became successful, it modified perspectives and focused on three key areas- mastery, sense of belongingness and autonomy or freedom. The course phrased out positive expressions to provide and introduced more modules, namely, pursuing ow, need to

love, internal control and external control. He then proceeded to describe the features of ow, feeling of belongingness and

happiness. Raj suggested the participants to reect on positive thoughts striving for perfection and exploring quantifying methods of

happiness. The talk concluded with an excerpt on happiness by Aristotle that chalks out the journey in pursuit of happiness. Raj showed a few videos as part of his talk to highlight his message that the mind should be controlled to look at positive thoughts and how one needed to control the same. “In this age of stress and pressure, I think it is extremely essential for the youth especially to focus on keeping their balance right and therefore, connecting with the right factors beyond their normal course is very important” he said.

After this, Mala Patodia, Co- Chair, Yi (Leadership Academy) and Founder, Mpower set the tune of the session on “Music to Maestro- Passion to Perseverance- The Family Way” with Ayaan Ali Khan and Amaan Ali Khan, Sarod Masters and Composers. Both brothers felt that it was a honour to be at the session and recalled their old association with CII. While owing their music to the family and environment, they specified that their aim was to reach out to people across the globe. They set the rhythm of the session by eliciting responses to questions put forward to them. According to them, music cannot be put under specific categories like local and global since it had the quality to break across the categories and touch the heartstrings of people across the

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globe. Talking about teaching, they observed that mentoring brought along major responsibilities and articulated, “If a student is unable to perform well, then the discredit comes upon the teacher”. Given their several engagements and performances, they expressed that they would not commit to any cause which they were unable to fulfil. Another response to note was their ability to connect music with spirituality. “The best belief in this world is to believe in self – that will give you the conviction and courage to be humble during good times and strong during not so good ones”, they quoted. They also expressed their happiness on the association of the Indian people to various forms of music and thanked them for their continued support and love that they have showed upon them and their family.

The next item on the agenda was a panel discussion on “Building India through Enterprise and Innovation” which was moderated by Geetha Krishnan, Director, Centre for Executive Education, Indian School of Business. Geetha illustrated the need for entrepreneurship and i l luminated the role of each person forming the panel in entrepreneurship.

Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, Indian Institute of Management (Indore) spoke on his longstanding association with Yi and commended its activities that foster entrepreneurship and leadership skills.

He said that innovation went hand in hand with entrepreneurship and wealth

creation. He added that innovation also developed an urge in finding newer possibilities and teambuilding and explaining the relationship between entrepreneurship, team building and leadership skills through the case studies of companies like Sony and Hewlett Packard that explicated these skills and gained maximum results. In doing this, he shed beam on entrepreneurial organizations, challenges in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial solutions

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underlying in social entrepreneurship. As the Director of IIM, he also said that he was happy to note the entrepreneurial spirit amongst the youth in India and called for Yi to work harder to provide opportunities for the youngsters to follow their dreams to become job givers.

Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII National Committee on Capital Goods and Engineering and Managing Director & CEO, JCB India Ltd mentioned that entrepreneurship was embedded in the blood of every Indian. He pointed out that the Indian economy had reached a stage where young entrepreneurs were ready to embark on start-ups and shared the story of a small boy hired by Sibbal Singh from Haryana who started working in a small drilling business and eventually buys machines and operate a firm by himself. Another story was about Yasho Devi, a girl from a small village who fought against all odds, educated herself and found herself a job at JCB Ltd. Vipin drew attention to aspirations, attitude and adversities that help shaping an individual to acquire the correct mould required for

operating an independent venture. “ I am very delighted to be at this Young Indians forum and note that you are calling people like us for a

discussion on entrepreneurship, which is extremely motivating indeed. One would generally associate such youth conference to not to serious topics and the fact that you have added this means that you are in changing times of India and want to make an impact” he said.

Following this, Rajshree Pathy, Deputy Chairperson, CII Southern Region and Chairman and Managing Director, Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Ltd shared stories of young individuals who embraced entrepreneurship and cast an enticing spell. According to her, young individuals must take pride to be a stakeholder and think out of the box to run their firms. While explaining the scope underlying in entrepreneurship, she stressed that every Indian had the spark that could ignite the scope in nation building, society and design companies that serve the purpose of common man. Speaking about India, she mentioned that over 1,00,000 farmers had access to banks and echoing the significance of ideas and implementation, she emphasized the need to struggle and build confidence in entrepreneurship shown by candidates coming from normal

colleges. Citing examples of recent developments by the government, namely, Mangalayan mission to Mars and increased rates in literacy in

Tamil Nadu, she outlined the rising aspirations and how it had helped the youth to demonstrate skills in every facet.

After this, Zubin Irani, Chairman, CII Northern Region and President, UTC Building and Industrial Systems, United Technologies Corporation P Ltd focused on Indian manufacturing sector and how this segment unleashed opportunities in entrepreneurship. He laid emphasis on innovation and its binding thread around emerging manufacturing set ups attracting investments. According to him, an effective ecosystem needs to be built to encourage entrepreneurial ideas and solutions. Zubin went on to describe the need for business

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models to meet the requirements of social entrepreneurships. An interesting question was posed by Srikant Suryanarayan, Past National Chairman, Young Indians and Managing Director, Tradelinks Ventures (P) Ltd on “ How does one position new ecosystems like Jugaad replacing old ecosystems such as IT sector?. To this, Zubin replied by pointing out the characteristics of ‘Make In India’ campaign and how it broadened insights in students, developed technological systems and fostered social entrepreneurship in people. Meanwhile, Yashodhara Bajoria, Past Chair, Yi (Delhi Chapter) asked Zubin’s views on farmers and parents as entrepreneurs.

Post this, Rohit Verma, Chair, Yi (Northern Region) and Director, Lotus Diary Products introduced Major Devendra Pal Singh, India’s Amputee Marathon Runner and Double Limca Record Holder and delineated his achievement and explained how Devendra broke all odds to amplify the message on survival and reluctance to give up. Devendra began with an inspiring presentation on the theme “Death: Beginning of my Life.” Recounting his services in the army, he said that he was fighting on the line of control at Kargil in 1999 (Operation Vijay) when an enemy shell blasted at a distance of a few feets away from him and his body transformed in a pool of blood. “My colleagues picked me up on a stretcher and took me to the nearest hospital located at a distance of two and a half hours and I was declared dead by the doctors on arrival, but destiny had some other plans. At the same time that i was at the hospital, there was a visiting doctor who was an anaesthetics specialist and he somehow revived me. When I regained consciousness, I discovered the amputated right leg” he mentioned to an audience that was in complete silence at hearing him talk of the disaster that he went through. Post this, he started playing golf and then shifted to squash, volleyball and practiced exercises taught in the army such as ropes and beams. But running was still a distant dream owing to improper artificial prosthesis. Later in 2005, he also ventured into rally sports and

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participated in a marathon rally from Kargil to Kanayakumari (K2K). In 2009, he came to know about the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and took part in it, revealing that he had little time to prepare and therefore a humongous task for him to balance his body. He mentioned that he got little support from his prosthesis and as a result practiced hop running to complete running his first marathon in 3 hours and 40 minutes. His message on life was clear and positive. He also informed about “The Challenging Ones” (TCO), registered Trust which consist of 700 amputee challengers who share, redefine attitude and reinforce zeal in every challenger. Outlining the theme of the summit, he articulated that actions should speak about an individual and help discovering the potential in a fighter.

This was followed by an introduction about Yi from D N V Kumara Guru to Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India. Guru explicated that the foundation of Yi revolved around passion for India and its engagement with youth in nation building and youth leadership skills. Piyush Goyal during his keynote address commended CII for its contributions to Young Indians that shaped the aspirations of youth under nation building and youth leadership. He pointed out that the nature of youth in the country and how it stood up in critical times to retain the exclusive character of India. Talking about the resurgence in youth, he articulated that Young Indians had a significant role to play, fuel youth aspirations and underscore principles of good governance. Speaking about the present government, he illuminated the leadership landscape of the country, operations to be restructured, decision- making process and the importance of good team. According to him, effective action connotes with good leadership and becomes the hallmark of a nation. Piyush emphasized the need for transparency and its relevance in the government. He focused on five key actions, namely, ability of the nation to take important decisions, root cause analysis, relation between principles, outcomes, principles and prioritization of goals for the growth of the nation.Expounding on ability of the nation to take decisions, he focused on transparency and suggested that

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Rajya Sabha should explain leadership options. He then proceeded to elucidate root cause analysis in policies, to investigate the deferred cases in the court of law and elimination of questions in parliament. Piyush also decoded the relationship between principles versus outcome to account for effective spending on education, significant contributions towards global issues and duties of responsible citizens under several domains. In doing this, he said that the present government is planning to build one lakh toilets in India for both men and women. Another action to note was principle and reaching 8% growth in coal within deadlines. One such goal, he suggested, and a major at that was to aim at effective distribution of coal in India transforming rural India and addressing issues on lack of infrastructure. The Minister also spoke on the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will closely supervise the agricultural sector and cater to 5,00,000 employees and magnify the scope of leadership. During the interactive session, the Minister spoke on incentives allotted to government officials, crisis of power in South India, high prices of power and poor services in electricity, suggested everyone to reduce environmental damage and upgrade quality of power supply.

He pointed out that there should be a change in dynamics due to lack of technology and coal. He underlined two challenges faced by coal which were transport and distribution and accountable power purchasing. In doing this, he indicated critical concerns under unaffordable power rate, mining, electricity supply, mobile operations and Lok Sabha bill for improving power supply and environmental hazards. He stated that one of the factor posing significant challenge to India was inadequate availability of natural gas. Detailing the features of nuclear energy, he mentioned that Government needed to assess its requirements by industries and streamline channels of distribution. The Minister also gave away the recognition of appreciation to office bearers of Yi. Shaurya Veer Himatsingka, National Vice Chairman, Young Indians and Deputy Managing Director, India Carbon Ltd during his concluding remarks stressed on the minister’s honesty, accountability, perseverance and described how these factors would contribute to Yi’s vision about the country.

This was followed by a panel discussion with young Members of Parliament and Past National Chairs and Senior Members of Yi and was moderated by Jay Galla, Past National Chairman, Young Indians, Member of Parliament (Guntur Constituency) and Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. The Panellists included Pritam Munde, Member of Parliament (Beed Constituency); Dushyant Chatula, Member of Parliament (Hisar Constituency); Rammohan Naidu, Member of Parliament (Srikakulam Constituency), Bhairavi Jani, Past National Chairman, Yi and Director, SCA Group of Companies, Srikant Suryanarayan, Past National Chairman, Yi & Managing Director, Pixetra Ltd and Umang Patodia, Managing Director, Patspin India Ltd and

Founding Member of Yi. The young parliamentarians discussed about youth aspirations, passion, competition in politics and

democracy for the betterment of India. Each candidate illustrated their lineage and how it motivated them to serve the nation. Talking about her

political career, Pritam said she was elected in a by-election in 2014 with a margin of 6,96,321 votes- the highest ever in India’s electoral history. She is the daughter of former BJP leader Gopinath Munde. According to her, lineage cemented with passion stimulated her to join politics. Pritam noted that there were no boundaries of piety and state for one to think about the betterment of India. She added that cooperation in politics was a deeper concern than competition in politics. Dushyant Chautala gave an overview on his academic life - an MBA holder from abroad- and how his family encouraged him to join

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politics. He informed that he was the youngest person in the parliament to shoulder leadership responsibilities of the party. Highlighting the aws in the political system, he urged participants to focus on education, job scenario and development of the sports infrastructure. He suggested the introduction of insurance on select trains of Indian Railways by charging a rupee extra on the fare ticket. In doing this, he observed that there was a possibility of private insurance companies to collaborate with railways and implement positive action. Rammohan Naidu outlined his credentials from Pudue University and his interests in leadership that tailored his zeal in serving the nation with focus on implementation of agenda. He revealed that young parliamentarians must be given sufficient opportunities to grow and develop the acumen in nation building. Ram is also keen on collaborating with Yi to undertake critical objectives.

Bhairavi Jani pointed out the necessity to build closer coordination among members of parliament for conceiving the idea ‘One MP in One India’ with the purpose of developing India. Given varied modes of communication, she remarked that Twitter was a good option for MPsto connect with people, reach out to over 600 villages and amplify the need for establishing effective technology and infrastructure in the nation.Ram replied to the comment by expressing that young parliamentarians should connect and voice their opinions through various mediums. He also shed beam on Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Describing the enthusiasm underlying in the scheme, he underlined that the scheme has been initiated with a target to provide universal access to banking facilities starting with ‘Basic Banking Accounts’ with overdraft facility of Rs 5000 after six months and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh and RuPay Kisan Card. He also explained how the scheme would benefit policy makers as well. Meanwhile, Srikant shifted gears by inviting young parliamentarians to formulate an exciting model in which every MP functions as independent chapters in Yi and contribute towards national development, thereby reaching the count to 543 chapters. Among the concerns raised during the session were; Clear distinction between retirement and qualifications; humanism and how union affects politics; the

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involvement of youth in active politics and the role of young parliamentarians. Jay Galla concluded the session by suggesting that good citizens must actively participate in the development of the nation. He also announced that Yi will engage with young parliamentarians in the near future to facilitate exchange of ideas, discuss youth policy and active participation in Parliament.

The 11th Yi National Summit was attended by Yi members from across 36 chapters in the country along with the members of the Yuva vertical. This was followed by the Annual Session of Yi for the year 2014-15 during which the outgoing Chapter Chairs were recognized for their leadership to Yi and excellence in the organisation recognized. The National Chairman and National Vice Chairman for Yi for 2015-16 took over their positions during the progress of the Yi Annual Session.

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