Youth to power nation’s rise over next 25 yrs: PM

The potential of India’s youth will soon make India a developed nation, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday as he emphasised the crucial role of the youth in shaping the country’s future over the next 25 years. He was addressing the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2025 on the occasion of National Youth Day commemorating Swami Vivekananda’s 163rd birth anniversary.

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Sharing his vision of a developed India and emphasising its economic, strategic, social, and cultural strength, the Prime Minister remarked that in a developed India, both the economy and ecology would flourish, offering numerous opportunities for good education and income. Modi said if Swami Vivekananda were among us today, he would be filled with new confidence upon witnessing the power and active efforts of the 21st-century youth.

Recalling the G-20 event hosted in Bharat Mandapam, Modi said: “The world leaders were at the same venue to discuss the future of the world while today the youth of India were charting the roadmap for the next 25 years of India.”

The PM cited global examples where nations with big dreams achieved their goals. Citing the example of the 1930s economic crisis in the US, he said the Americans chose the ‘New Deal’ to overcome the crisis and accelerate the development. He also mentioned Singapore, which faced basic life crises but transformed into a global financial and trade hub through discipline and collective effort. He said India had similar examples, such as the freedom struggle and overcoming the food crisis after Independence.

“Setting big goals and achieving them within a timeframe is not impossible. Without a clear goal, nothing can be achieved, and today’s India is working with this mindset. Over the past decade, India resolved to become open defecation-free, and within 60 months, 60 crore citizens achieved this goal. Nearly every family now has access to banking services, and over 100 million gas connections have been provided to free women’s kitchens from smoke,” he said.