If India is to be empowered, the first thing, the most critical thing, the government must do is ensure that every youth gets an education. Our future is bright but imagine how bright it will be if 99 per cent of our youth are educated. And if they infuse in themselves the spirit of sacrifice, India’s future as an empowered nation is assured.
We must not worry about the past or our enemies. Every citizen’s ideal must always be the interest of this country. I can tell you every soldier has a dharma, a philosophy towards the country. It may take time for that dharma to spread evenly.
Our culture is ancient, perhaps the oldest in the world. Yet we are helpless as we watch our youth drift towards a way of life introduced by the West. In a sense, the core of our culture is threatened by these new ideals. India has always been open, outward-looking. So if we are to keep our culture adequately safe, this is the time to ensure that something so ancient, so rich is never lost.
Let us stop pointing fingers, worrying about the deeds of others. We must seize the day, look at ourselves, attend to our own lives. Half the problems in this world are there because people and countries have failed to look at their own lives first.
Culture apart, India must take advantage of its new found place in the world of technology to empower its people. If we make good use of technology, we can be a fearless people, take ourselves and the nation forward.
As we move ahead, we must think why we still attach so much importance to caste, creed and religion. We are humans first, all from a single source. In a country so diverse and complex as ours, how can we turn to any one religion? All religions are the same. The country is God, the matrabhoomi. You can’t look at it any other way.
Isn’t it unfair when our politicians, who are supposed to keep the country united, appear to be so divided at times? There are good men and women in our political system too but their count is going down. How I wish there was a way to ensure that the entire country is looked after and not just constituencies.
We talk of an egalitarian society. Yet we deny education to our women. Society is built around the woman, she is the janma mata. She created it, she can destroy it. Women must be given much more power, jobs that men do. They can get rid of so much evil.
On the issue of women, think of how we are going wrong with the rise in population. Just how many more people can our country take? If we are to be a modern society, we have to think of ways to check this furious rise in numbers. If we are unable to handle the number climb, we can achieve very little. In whatever we set out do, we must put our heart and soul. That’s the thing to remember. Because money and stature don’t count much.
— (Yogendra Singh Yadav of 18 Grenadiers received the country’s highest gallantry award for his heroics at Tiger Hill during the 1999 Kargil conflict)
If India is to be empowered, the first thing, the most critical thing, the government must do is ensure that every youth gets an education. Our future is bright but imagine how bright it will be if 99 per cent of our youth are educated. And if they infuse in themselves the spirit of sacrifice, India’s future as an empowered nation is assured.