On 68th Independence Day – more ways to serve India…
August 15, 2014 Leave a comment
68th Independence Day – there’s never been more opportunities for educated people to serve India. With the liberalization in the 90’s and rapid growth in the 2000’s, millions of people are driving India’s Economy forward leading to phenomenal progress in Communication, Transport, Healthcare, Industry, etc. Philanthropy, Job Creation, Education are of course common ways for educated successful people to serve the country as well. But for a long time from the 70’s until now, Politics and Government have been untouchable areas too dirty for decent, educated people to consider.
Lately, there is a renewed interest from young educated people in directly participating in the Political process. In the last year, I have travelled more than 30,000 Kms in India, met a few thousand young people and I see a dramatic difference in their view about Politics compared to even a decade back. A Delhi Arts College student that I met wants to be Education Minister one day, a Mumbai MBA student wants to be RBI Governor, a Coimbatore Engineering student wants to be a Municipal Councillor, a Bangalore Engineer wants to be a Public Policy Analyst.
The Aam Aadmi Party and Narendra Modi in their own ways have made Politics exciting again. People like Nandan Nilekani have shown honest, successful businessmen can enter politics and make a difference. Slowdown in IT growth, abundance of Engineering graduates and questions about RoI of MBA education has lead to more interest in Civil Services again. College students and IT engineers suddenly have aspirations to decide the future course of the country.
Following are some interesting new opportunities for people to get involved in serving India:
- Modi Govt’s Citizen Participation Program
- PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program
- Takshashila Foundation Graduate Course in Public Policy
- AAP Internship Program
The future does look bright…
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