We are aware that India is on the road and aspiring to achieve complete development by 2047. Little do we know, about the plethora of ways, through which we can actually achieve this with successful fruition. To enlighten us about the same, few presenters at the conference, put in their concerted efforts.
One of the major influential speakers were, Dr. Anju Mehrotra, MD of Kalka Institute of Research and Advanced Studies, and Principal of Kalka Public School. She introduced us to two novel words used by the common masses of the Gen Z and the Gen Alpha, viz. FOMO and JOLO. The former means, Fear of Missing Out and the latter means Joy of Living Once. She explained that there has to be a paradigm shift from FOMO to JOLO. Our journey has been eventful from radio to TV, digital and now social media. The upcoming generation has a pretty happening life, but we come from a generation that has seen the evolution of the technological advancements and how they pose challenges. She stated that she realized that Gen Z and Gen Alpha know way more than us and we need to bring that kind of change in our lives to meet the vision and expectations of Vision Viksit Bharat and 2047.
These expectations can be met when we transform our thinking patterns from old to new and the youth will prove that a true leadership can be acquired with Innovation, Inclusivity, and Forward-Thinking. Another important thing to learn from the upcoming generation is that they don’t brood over their past. She enlightened us with the concept of Peace Psychology, which states that organisations need to create ‘happiness cells’ and ‘thought labs’ to enhance our meditation skills, to create an itch in our minds, incubate that idea, and fortunately India is playing that role since ours is a digital and knowledge economy.
She mentioned that SDGs and Young India are interconnected. Young India whose aim is to make India, prosperous, smart and green.
She also made the audience known about a new idea of the “VUCA” world. She further delved into what it means and what it implies of the upcoming world. She said that ‘V’ stands for vulnerable youth. ‘U’ is for undesirability, when the youth is disillusioned and often goes astray. ‘C’ stands for the cynicism and challenges that is perpetuated in our journey ahead. ‘A’ stands for Ambiguous because the future is uncertain and nothing is clear.
The job of the upcoming generation is to transform the negative VUCA world to positive VUCA world, where a paradigm shift needs to be seen. It is going to be an understanding world and to witness that positive change, we must incorporate critical thinking, collaborative communication and adaptability which stands to be the most important skill of the new world.
A simple example of this can be seen from how the teaching fraternity was very softy converted from offline to online world.
The Indian Youth is a live example, of this adaptability and how to adapt ourselves to these changing circumstances.
For instance, in Singapore, we maintain cleanliness, but we often ignore to do the same here. We can also adopt the parking disciplines from cities like London.
One by one, we need to bring that attitudinal shift, pull up our socks, and contribute likewise. The little individual effort of ours is going to contribute to the larger picture. Each drop is priceless, to contribute towards a sustainable developed society. Each vision has to be brought into action.
Through her PowerPoint presentation, she introduced us to the 5ps or Principles for shaping the reformed digitized world.
- Planet
- Peace
- Partnership
- Prosperity
- People
Finally, she made a few last minute mentions of the lack of health services. Approximately, 4 billion people lack health services around the world.
Large language models, unlock the power of unstructured information stored on the web. Hence, according to data, 0.2 % of the world population, is acquainted with English.
Less than 0.5 of the world population, is equipped with the tools of coding.
The objective of the Viksit Bharat, can only be accomplished with the juxtaposition of right action and right people at the right time.
To add more to this, the researchers at the conference, explained in detail with meticulous vociferousness, about their research work and the real-world impact that it could have.
Dr. Akanksha Singh, guest faculty of Political Science at NCWEB, Delhi University, highlighted how the intensity and impact of digital revolution amongst the children in India, had not so favorable or rather negative after-effects. She brought to surface, the plight of children belonging to rural, semi rural and other marginalized sections of India.
Irene Lalrindiki, a scholar from Amity University, Noida, presented a paper where she talked about examining the impact of parental divorce on children, in the context of digital well-being and education in Viksit Bharat.
Finally, the last two researchers, one of them, Mansi Sherawat, an independent researcher, affiliated to TISS Mumbai, presented a qualitative research work. Her research design, not exactly well defined, but she delved into a comprehensive analysis of exploring mental health concerns of students and strategies in an Indian School Community.
The last presenter of the session, Dr. Shikha Dutt Sharma, Assistant Professor, at K.R. Mangalam University, Gurgaon, presented an enlightening body of research, where she explored, the role of Indian Government Schemes in Advancing Girl Child Education and Digital Literacy, in the backdrop of leading to an empowered future.
Therefore, we can say that a Viksit Bharat can only be achieved when we start laying it`s foundation, through individual efforts one step at a time. Gradually, the pathway can be created to finally accomplish that goal one day, very soon.