PrintFriendlyI have always said – we may move or not, we may be open to change or not India is changing fast and this change is happening for the good. At the core of the New India spirit are individual aspirations, collective endeavors. and a spirit of ownership for national progress.
New India is about participative democracy, a citizen-centric government and pro-active citizenry. New India is the era of Responsive people and responsive government.
Distinguished guests, for many years, a culture was perpetrated in which aspiration became a bad word. Doors opened depending on your contacts. Success depended on whether or not you belonged to an Old Boy’s club. Big cities, select big institutions and big families – this is all that mattered.
The economic culture of License Raj and Permit Raj struck at the heart of individual ambitions. But, today things are changing for the better. We see a spirit of New India in the vibrant start-up eco-system. Thousands of talented youngsters are creating fantastic platforms, show-casing their spirit of enterprise.
We also see this spirit on the sports field.India is now excelling in new arenas where we were hardly present earlier. Be it start-ups or sports, who is powering this vibrancy? It is courageous youngsters from small towns and villages most people would not even have heard of. They do not belong to established families or have big bank balances.
What they have in plenty is dedication and aspiration.
They are converting that aspiration into excellence and making India proud. This for me is the New India Spirit. This is an India where the surnames of the youth do not matter.
What matters is their ability to make their own name.
This is an India where corruption is never an option, whoever the person is. Only competence is the norm.