Team Herald
PANJIM: The dream of making the Goan youth competitive as other young men and women in the country may be slowly taking shape. An initiative called Young Indians ( Yi) an integral part of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hopes to provide a platform for young Goans to be an integral part of the Indian growth story. This organisation hopes to become the voice of Indians globally.
Rajesh Salgaonker, chairman of Young India Goa chapter said this was an important move to make young Indians ready for 2022 when the country would turn 75.
He said “I would like our Goan boys and girls to be able to understand the rapidly evolving technological world which will help them find their space in the world of tomorrow”.
This organisation which has approximately a 1000 members nationally between the ages of 21-40 has attracted scions of industrial houses, young entrepreneurs and young corporate employees who wish to be part of this initiative.
The Goa chapter which commenced three years ago has 38 members. Rajesh who is a entrepreneur based in Panjim plans to initiate several programs to continue the work that has already been done.
Career Counselling sessions have been initiated various colleges to help students gain an understanding of their strengths and talents. Two colleges in Bicholim, Don Bosco in Panjim and the Mandre College where a session was conducted once before and evoked a response that made the college management invite them again.
Earlier the group had cleaned the Netravali falls as well as the beach near INS Mandovi. In addition they conducted India’s first tower run in Panjim.
Asked what were the plans in the offing he said Young India was in the process of tying up with private training institutes to ensure that school dropouts and the less fortunate are educated. He said that once the person completed his or her training they would be given a job opportunity with CII member’s companies in an appropriate post.
He said “We are also working towards reducing the need of persons having to travel to another village or State to work because their training was not suitable for Goa.”
He also revealed plans to start a ‘students net’ in Goa. Plans are in progress to hold one at the Goa Institute of Management. A proposal had come from the Institute last year, but they have decided to implement it from this academic year.
In addition they are planning to work with the farming community by conducting awareness drives and teaching them new farming techniques and growing four different crops in one hectare of land in a year. With regards to young students they have an initiative called ‘Blue Ocean’ for school students of classes from seventh to ninth standard.
This initiative is for students having uncut ideas in certain fields, to help it grow or innovate a business plan.
There is also a national initiative called the ‘Green I Contest’ which is open to all schools upto class twelve, to help develop green concepts. The winning team gets Rs 7.5 Lakh nationally to implement the initiative in their respective schools.
Perhaps in five or even ten years the fruits of such initiatives will show, till then one can only wait and watch.
