Watch : Shri Modi addressing young thinkers at Gayatri Parivar's Youth Uplift Conference (Part: 1)
Chief Minister Narendra Modi today called upon youth to wake up the inner energy, to be committed to life, to be ready for sacrifices and be sentinels of change to build a strong and competent India.Addressing a Youth Uplift Conference organized by Akhil-Vishwa Gayatri Parivar's Divine India Youth Association (DIYA) attended by nearly 8,000 young thinkers at Indoor Stadium at Surat, he said, 'We are not as fortunate as freedom fighters to die for the nation, but we should live to do something for the nation'.
Mr. Modi asked the youth to defeat the western of concept of distorted consumerism with spirituality. India believed on trusteeship, and not materialism or Nature's exploitation. The spectre of pollution looms large on the mankind. It is our duty to maintain ecological balance.
He pointed out that Indian culture worshipped rivers and trees but we started polluting rivers and felled trees only after coming under the influence of western materialism. He said the youth should rise to the call of preserving nature in the same spirit as jawans do to protect the sovereignty of the nation.
Watch : Shri Modi addressing young thinkers at Gayatri Parivar's Youth Uplift Conference (Part: 2)
He said that Gayatri Parivar founder Ram Sharma's centenary falls on 2011 as also 150th anniversary of Vivekanand the same year. India has a rich heritage of Jnana, needed in this Age of Knowledge. It is time for Indian youth to take world leadership in spreading spirituality, notwithstanding likely depression in the materialistic world.Talking about the contributions of Swami Vivekanand, Maharshi Aurobindo and Sardar Patel, DIYA President Pranav Pandya said that Gujarat today tops in the march to development because there lives a Narendra Modi in every Gujarati.
Prominent among those present on the occasion were Forest and Environment Minister Mangubhai Patel, Members of Parliament C.R. Patil and Pravin Naik, Mayor Ranjit Gilitwala, Municipal Commissioner Ms S Aparna, Collector A.J. Shah, Padmashri Anil Joshi and Legislator Kishor Vankawala.