Third edition of National Youth Conference

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January 10, 2011: Commemorating the 148th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, IIM Indore organised its third edition of the National Youth Conference today. The conference marks a conscious effort by the institute to recognize the power of the Indian youth in the overall development of the country. With the theme of ‘Leveraging the Demographic Dividend’, the conference consists of lectures and panel discussions by eminent personalities in the field of business, societal development and governance.

The conference commenced with an address by Swami Nirvikalpanandaji, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, Dehradun. In his address on ‘Swami Vivekananda and the youth of India’ he spoke about the relevance of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings in today’s scientific age. He went on to talk about how Swami Vivekananda was keener on effective education of youth, rather than acquired education. He stressed on the importance of perseverance as an essential virtue for attaining success, along with originality and depth of thought. He ended his address expressing his optimism in the India’s intellectual power and opined that it will be a crucial driver of growth for the country.

The second session was a panel discussion on Corruption in India, with eminent personalities from the executive arm of Indian administration as well as a member of Transparency International. The panelists were Shri P S Bawa (IPS), Chairman, Transparency India Shri Satish Sahney (IPS), Former Commissioner, Mumbai Police, Shri P G J Nampoothiri (IPS), Former DG, Gujarat Police. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Ganesh Kumar Nidugala of IIM Indore.

Prof. Ganesh began by citing his professional experience in both India and Singapore (countries ranked 87 and 1 on the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, where 1 means lowest corruption). He then set the ball rolling by asking the panelists to define corruption, give their views (including experiences, if any) on corruption in India. The discussion then moved on to the causes of corruption and concluded with the recommendations for our society to tackle this bane of corruption.

The panelists concluded that a strong sense of personal integrity, moral rectitude and probity were essential to tackle the problem. In the words of Shri PS Bawa, this "Hydra-headed monster" could only be quelled if all the youth adopted to stand by their principles and used the RTI effectively and pressured the government to enact laws for reform.

A symposium was also organised on ‘Education and Training’, coordinated by Prof. Siddharth Rastogi of IIM Indore, involving paper presentation by participants followed by discussions.

The first day of the conference ended with a talk by Prof. N Ravichandran, Director of IIMI on an agenda for the youth of India. He stressed the importance of youth doing what they enjoy, and doing it to the best of their ability, focusing not on society’s expectations but rather on the dictates of their conscience in achieving their goals.

Photographs