Call for youth to join in India’s progress >From Eugene Correia
Mumbai: Three young Members of Parliament (MP), with one common characteristic of having studied abroad and worked abroad, B. J. Panda, Milind Deora, and Manvendra Singh, brought their own experiences of living abroad and unveiled their vision for a new India. Hailed as part of the new breed of Indian MPs, the three spelled out the things that need to be done to by the new generation of India to enhance and improve India’s image at home and abroad. At the plenary session on India and the Generation Next, the three MPs, who formed the part of Indian panelists, were joined by diaspora youth panelists, Prof. Premnarine Misir, Pro-Chancellor, University of Guyana, Vigneswaran, MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malaysia, Dharmesh Mistry, Management Consultant, who left his job in the UK to work with Indicops, a voluntary group, in India, and Dr. Amitabha Ghosh, NASA scientist. Moderated by Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, and himself a returned expatriate, the debate took a lively turns. Dr. Ghosh was very critical of government services, saying he found that many slum dwellers had a fridge, a TV and a motorbike but no essential services like water and sanitation. The picture, according to him, says that the private sector has delivered but the government sector has failed. It drew a clarification from Manvendra Singh that the slums are “illegal” and, hence, there’s no question of providing them with either water or sanitation. It was Mistry who articulated very well the need for overseas Indian youth to provide voluntarily their knowledge and skills to India. He said he has high hopes India would come on top and the youth would lead the way. Both Panda and Deora said that not much must be made of the fact they are young MPs. They chose to get into politics to help change the face of India. Milind is son of former MP, Murli Deora, who regained the South Bombay seat for the Congress, while Manvendra, BJP MP, is son of former BJP Minister, Jaswant Singh. Panda (Janata Dal is member of Rajya Sabha. There was the group of diaspora interns, who came to India from different countries for a two-week visit. The group went to many universities and other places. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail