Swami Vivekananda 150th Jayanthi Utsava Samithi organized Yuva Professional Meet cum Seminar on Nov 24 2013 at JNTU Auditorium, Kukatpally, Hyderabad. The event was attended by more than 925 youth which included about 700+ IT Professionals, and 100+ students.

The event started with invocation of Vande Mataram, which was followed by a brief on Value Education by Dr Vinay Babu (Principal, JNTU College of Engineering).

Swami Bodhamayananda (Director, Institute of Human Excellence, Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad) then mesmerized the audience with an amazingly dynamic speech stressing on how relevant Swami Vivekananda’s message was even in current context. Seeing large number of participants being IT Professionals, he used their own terminology to put across some key points for leading a happy life. He said - we all secure our computers with anti-viruses but what about our minds. Swami Vivekananda's messages can still very much act as a great anti-virus software for all kinds of viruses that run riots in the minds of youth these days. He also talked about how Swami Vivekananda inspired some greatest of personalities even during his life time, citing the examples of JRD Tata and John D Rockefeller.

 

Chief Guest, Sri Rajiv Kumar (General Manager, IDC Office Division, Microsoft) subsequently talked on how spirituality & science merge with each other at some point and also the importance of Yoga & meditation in daily life.

 

Then came the key address by Sri S Gurumurthy (Co-convenor, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch) on the Seminar Topic “India’s Growth Story – Challenges & Road Ahead”.      

Sri Gurumurthy said Indian economy was surviving not because of the foreign direct investments (FDIs) but because of its intrinsic strength. Between 1991 and 2011 the total investment that came to India was just 1.2 percent of its GDP, which proved that Indian economy survived without FDIs. India’s domestic potential was far greater than it appeared and it can survive on its own, he said.
 

“India was an economic giant for 1,700 years and in 1750 China’s contribution to world’s GDP was 34 percent, India’s 24 percent while US’ and UK’s contribution was a meagre 2 percent. Until the 19th century, India and China had been the main drivers of global economy. Now the situation has reversed and the wealth has shifted from Asia to Europe and America,” he said. Sri Gurumurthy said that the US transformed from being the largest investor and lender in the world in 1976 to the biggest borrower today - it borrows $ 2.5 trillion to run its economy. He said that there was no universal economic model and it was behavioural factors that made a formal economic model.
 

Disagreeing with the government’s claims that high imports of oil and gold were the reason for India’s current account deficit, he said it was due to capital goods import. Before the UPA government came to power the country had a $ 22 billion current account surplus and due to the wrong policies of the government today the current deficit has reached $ 339 billion.

He said Indian economy was fundamentally feminine in nature while western economies are masculine. Due to the high accountability on cultural responsibilities, Indian women always tend to prioritize saving more than spending on personal desires. Due to this fundamentally different nature, Savings to GDP ratio in our country is pretty high and is expected to stay so in the future.

Sri Gurumurthy also said Swami Vivekananda had envisioned India as an economic powerhouse a century earlier and was the first to recognise and acknowledge her inherent potential.

The event concluded with Shanti Mantra. What a beautiful day it was for the youths who felt they were lot more informed about message of Swami Vivekananda, importance of human excellence not just professional excellence, current lacunas in government’s economic policies, India’s inherent strengths & strong potential and importance of role of youth in overall India’s growth story.