Mind Rocks: India Today Youth Summit 2011 Is Here

HERE IS THE SUMMIT. YOU CAN READ ALL THE EXPERTS COMMENTS.
HERE IS AROON PURIE:

The extraordinary events of the last three months have changed the way young people are perceived, said India Today Group Chairman and Editor in Chief Aroon Purie during his welcome address at Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit 2011 on Saturday at the Le Meridien Hotel here. (Watch: Aroon Purie's welcome address)

"They, we were told, was the I-Me-Myself generation. I see now that they may have become the We generation. We were told modern communication tools like email, SMS or Facebook would divide people. They ended up uniting your generation across cities, classes and communities. We were told globalisation would make our youth too westernised. The tricolour has instead become your favourite accessory," he said.

"We were told young people were not interested in politics. But, one by one, as you converged on Ramlila Maidan in Delhi or Azad Maidan in Mumbai or Freedom Park in Bangalore, with candles, slogans, and change in your hearts, you proved us and them wrong. Like a generation before you did in 1974, you were asking for accountability.  The students' revolution of 1974 threw up many of our present-day political stalwarts, from Lalu Prasad Yadav to Sushil Modi," Purie added.

"Two-thirds of India is under 35 - like most of you sitting in this hall. The numbers are huge. 459 million Indians are between 13 and 35. Of these, 333 million are literate. Till now, you were seen as a market. This year you proved, as you rallied behind a 74-year-old man from a hitherto obscure village in Maharashtra, that you were a democracy," he said.

Purie added that as a 200-million strong voting force of 18-35 year olds in the 2009 elections, youngsters were always seen as a swing factor. "This time you proved the swing could well be a tsunami. All of you realise how you can change the rules of the game. You have every opportunity to change it further," he said.

HERE IS K M BIRLA:

Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Saturday that it's not important to be born with leadership skills as it can be learnt by observation, positive attitude and determination.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit 2011, Birla said, "I had two gurus-Pratap Sharma, who taught me the effects of communication, and Ram Charan Yadav, who is a world-renowned management consultant. It's very important that you communicate appropriately and at the right time."

Birla, who took the reins of the group-then a $2billion conglomerate-in 1995 when his father Aditya Vikram Birla suddenly passed away, said the critics had written him off, there was constant comparison with his father. "The press stopped short of calling me a donkey," he said. The Birla scion proved everyone wrong as the turnover of the company today is $35 billion and Birla expects the revenue to reach $65 billion by 2015. "Ours was an already successful group, so we had to make some positive changes to stay successful," said Birla sharing his success mantra with a young audience, he rarely gets to interact with.

The first big change came with the lowering of average age of the people working in the group. In 1995, the average age was 56, twice Birla's age then. In 2006, the average age is 36. "I introduced retirement age for the employees. Initially, people could not relate to my views, but soon they realised I had no hidden agenda. Besides, the people working for Birla group hero worshipped my father. So they endured me for the initial few years," he said. Today, the Gen Y forms 28 per cent of the AV Birla workforce compared to 9 per cent in 2006.

To inherit his father's legacy at the age of 28 was like to be in the deep end, said Birla. "In such situations, you either learn to swim quickly or you sink. I had to learn to deal with people really fast. Of course I had the qualification-a CA (degree) and an MBA degree-and five years of experience of working with my father," he said.

In the last 15 years, Birla group has ventures into several new sectors and exited many traditional business. It has made 22 new acquisitions since 1995. He attributes his success to the desire to be always on the top. "Our company remains focuses on return on capital. The cash flow is very important," he added. The 44-year-old tycoon asked the youngsters to make the most of the present as past is history and future is a mystery. "Do what you value and value what you do. Once you make a choice, be sure of the trade-offs ingrained in the choice."

Birla emphasized the importance of team work to create a successful organization. "We need star teams, not just stars."

According to him, India has tremendous growth opportunity in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors and the youngsters must focus on these two areas. He also said that the current depression in world economy has actually created opportunities for his company. "We are building assets for future. We are acquiring overseas assets now at much cheaper price than it was 10 years ago," he said.

When it comes to corporate governance, Birla said that the one thing that was his own value addition to the company was transparency. "You won't find any skeletons in our cupboard," he said. 

HERE IS ABHINAV BINDRA:

A champion shows what it takes to be a winner and be acknowledged world over for the craft. At theIndia Today Youth Summit 2011, it was Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra who talked about what it really takes to be hotshot in his profession.

Headlines Today sports editor Gaurav Gala started off by asking Bindra what is it that really goes beyond making an average sports guy, a world champion? Bindra, a rifle shooting star, said that it's all about mixing the right spirit with science. "I fulfilled my dream in Beijing. Not everyone competes at the Olympic Games but everybody would like to succeed. Whether you choose to be an artist or an entrepreneur, an engineer or a deep sea diver, to run a company, or a creche you would like to be an achiever. I hope my experiences will be of some help to you" said he.

The good news is that India has arrived on the world stage amid a fanfare of trumpets. Today's youth, according to Bindra, is poised to ride the India wave and deluge the world with its achievements. He said success is not an "instant" and that there are no shortcuts to success. For Bindra, success began with love-the love for sport. He said, "I feel a great connect with my rifle-it is like a third limb." To connect with what you do is a spiritual journey, far from the spotlight of achievement, said Bindra.

Success came quite early in Bindra's life. Within 4 years of taking up the sport at 17, he competed in his first Olympic Games. He broke the world record before turning 20.

Bindra attributes his success to the three most important values in life which, he feels, are a must-have if one wants to make it big-focus, attitude and hard work. Nobody can taste the sweetness of success without putting in these three values together. Bindra said 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration is required to take you closer towards achieving success. "My inexorable focus on perfection, my attitude of being willing to learn and my brutal work schedule have brought me to the Beijing Olympics."

To gain perfection in his sport, Bindra went through a lot many training sessions. "From my chest, in a shallow way, but from deep in my abdomen, slowly, relaxed, I have to become a yogi - a yogi with a gun, he said.

Gaurav Gala let open the question and answer session to the audience, who were all excitement and pulled their socks to ask Abhinav Bindra a volley of questions.

Q: How important is it to lose to realise the worth of your win?
A: All my losses have taught me a lot. I have used it for my future. It gives me a kind of drive to get back to my work. It is painful but sometimes good to perform well. The demon inside me, I keep telling him in my mind-"don't mess with me".

Q: How many times have you broken your own record?
A: Well, there is always room for improvement. I hope to perform even better in London. I have to stand up and match up to the international standards.

HERE IS CHETAN BHAGAT:

You can love the books he writes or disparagingly compare them to junk food, but one thing you cannot do is ignore Chetan Bhagat. It was more than evident in the kind of reception he got at the Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit 2011. It was befitting a Rockstar. And living up to it, he had the audience -- most of them young kids -- eating out of his hands. Self deprecating one moment, earnest and serious the other, Bhagat knew the pulse of the youth, who comprise a major bulk of his readers.

Speaking about his journey as a writer, Bhagat spoke about the first nine publishers he approached with his maiden book, Five Point Someone. All of them rejected it. He didn't give up and was tenth time lucky. From "Indians do not read books" to "you are a techie, why don't you write a text book," he heard all kinds of reasons for rejection. "One said, we publish a book if we feel it will sell 1000 copies, yours won't. Somewhere down the line even I started feeling that maybe I am not a good writer. But I do not give up easily," he told a completely enthralled audience. When his first book was actually published, it sold a million copies. And then there were other books including Three Mistakes of My Life, Two States, andOne Night at the Call Centre. All of them bestsellers.

Bhagat is not modest where it comes to the success of his books. But he also has no illusions about the lack of literary brilliance in them. "I know I will never win the Man Booker Prize but I will win a million hearts," he said to a huge roar of approval from the audience. In fact, he poked fun at himself by saying that he was amused when a man told him that he had developed an interest in literature like One Night at the Call Centre.

He said that there was a huge pressure on him from some people, including his PR team to have a different profile. When I agreed to write a column in a Hindi daily, they thought it was not a good idea. There is criticism that there are Hindi words of common use in my books. The moment you associate from the masses, you are judged. But then I am very clear that I do not exist to win appreciation from the white people," Bhagat said.

Bhagat talked about his new book -- Revolution 2020 -- coming out soon. The title goes with the strapline of "Love, Corruption, Ambition". He explained that it was a book unlike his earlier ones. It deals with how these three things drove the youth and those coming from small towns. He also dwelt in great detail about the dilemma facing the youth -- whether to do good or be good. Unfortunately, he said, that such a question arose because of the structure of the Indian Society. "Why should the two be exclusive to each other. If you are good, you should do good too," he said, hoping that things will change.

He felt strongly about the corruption in the education system, and how only ten per cent made it to good colleges and the remaining were left at the mercy of the poorest quality or no education at all. He said he had dwelt on this issue in his coming book.

Bhagat said that he has achieved success and knows that he can entertain people. Now he wants to challenge himself and see whether he can change the thinking of the people. He is writing controversial and thought provoking columns in newspapers, which had once panned his work. "I am not here to soothe people but to shake them up," he said about some of his controversial articles on corruption in Commonwealth Games. Bhagat is also giving motivational talks and has been invited by the army and even approached by some political parties for speeches.

About what drives him, Bhagat said that one does not have to be serious in life to be taken seriously, just sincere. Being a "youth icon" he said, put certain pressures on him. "They want me to behave in a certain manner and not write sex scenes. I will write about sex scenes because I like. I want the creative freedom. I don't have to write a moral science book. WTF."

HERE IS KIRAN RAO:

'The Road Less Travelled', a session at the Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit at the Le Meridien in Delhi, brought together people from disparate fields: a filmmaker of substance, an artist who's remarkable journey began from the hinterland of Bihar, a political scion from Orissa and an entrepreneur who showed Mark Zuckerberg the road to Facebook.

Filmmaker Kiran Rao said opting for showbiz is not so radical now as it was in her time when she graduated from college in Mumbai in the mid-90s. "I wasn't really into movies back then. I had read a lot of literature and was really interested in visual media. That's what brought me to Jamia Millia Islamia to study mass communications," she said. She said that once someone chooses his or her road, it isn't really so difficult after all. "I resisted instincts that told me to tone it down, and that's what made making 'Dhobi Ghat' such a rich creative experience for me," she said.

Artist Subodh Gupta let his work speak for him, putting on a slide show of his definitive works ranging from the 'Ambassador', India's iconic car cast in stone, to 'Black and White', an exposition of how the ying can so easily let itself to yang. Gupta said he sauntered into art, starting off with an avid interest in theatre and getting into art school only because that would allow him the time and space to pursue histrionics. "Most of my art is based on what I saw and places I travelled to," he said. As it turns out, he excelled in what was originally a diversionary tactic.

Divya Narendra, the founder of Sumzero website that offers consulting on hedge fund investments and the founder of HarvardConnect that predated Facebook, said persistence is a must if one wants to become a successful entrepreneur. "Part of why our social networking venture succeeded was because it reflected our own personalities. We believed in the concept," he said. Narendra said India's chaotic flux, where "travelling by car on the road is like being in a video game", affords risk-takers just the perfect platform to make it big.

Biju Janata Dal MP Kalikesh Singh Deo admitted it can be tough facing the people as a politician in the times of Anna Hazare, but pleaded people not to lose faith in the political system. "I support Anna," he said to raucous applause. Deo said he got into politics not because he comes from a political family. "I decided at 18, when I was in my first year at St. Stephens, that I would be one. I don't know of any other profession in India which gives you the platform to be a change agent both at the micro and macro level," he said.

HERE IS ZARINA MEHTA:

It is understandable why UTV co-founder Zarina Mehta "hates" the word 'idiot box'. But the brain behind the "ground breaking" and equally controversial reality TV show Emotional Atyachaar is unapologetic and says that television has transformed the Indian youth from "guilty" to "confident".

"The Indian youth now wants to beat the best in the world at their own game and that confidence has come from unprecedented access to the world and its resources. Television has brought global realities to our homes. Computers still don't have that reach," said Mehta during a session at the India Today youth summit 'Mind Rocks' in Delhi on Saturday.

As usual the 50-year-old decided not to stick with protocol and ran onto the stage before the host could finish with the introduction and took hold of the mic. From talking about her own "clueless" formative years to Anna Hazare, Mehta had her listeners attention from the go. The Chief Creative Officer of UTV's broadcasting network decided to test some of her theories about the Indian youth with the crowd and got a resounding yes for all. "At UTV, we spend a lot of time researching and I love  listening to you guys, the young people. And you are so different from the generation before you and the one before it," said Mehta.

The enthusiastic 50-year-old then decoded the character of Gen Y for the audience.

"We do a lot of research and we found out that the present generation is very different from all its predecessors. The Indian youth has a dual character. They like going to the temple with mom in the morning and party with friends at night. And they are not guilty about having fun, the previous generations were," said Mehta.

And that character is evident in Emotional Atyachaar which she says began as a social experiment and contrary to popular opinion "empowers" women.

"We did a survey and found out that 60 percent of girls thought that their boyfriends were teaching (on them). That is how the show began. It is produced by an all-woman team and empowers women because they can test their partners fidelity," said Mehta.

And when it comes to family, we are not far from Karan Johar's motto. "Family is everything for us," says Mehta. Announcing her support for the anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare, Mehta said that the country's young population possesses a true sense of patriotism, which is "not vacant jingoism".

"India Rocks and the young people truly believe that. They are proud of the country and want to improve it and that was clear with their support to Hazare," said Mehta.

HERE IS KIRAN BEDI:

Attributing the success of the anti-corruption movement to people's participation, Team Anna member and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Saturday implored the young delegates at the Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit 2011 that their support should continue so that the government is forced to legislate a strong Lokpal Bill during the winter session later this year.

"The movement was a success because of you and all credit goes to Anna Hazare," Bedi told the summit, which was held on Saturday in Delhi. She attributed her association with the movement to RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, calling it an 'opportunity.'

She called for people to end their indifference towards how government is run, else it would give the people in power a free run to do corrupt dealings. They should be held accountable, she said, calling the government draft of the Lokpall bill ineffective.

Bedi said the government proposes to create two CBIs - saying the first CBI will be under the government control, while the other, the new one, would only investigate new cases of corruption. She asserted that a senior minister told her that the government is worried that an independent CBI under Lokpal may reopen old corruption cases like that of Bofors gun deal.

The fear of going to jail and usurping of property created by corrupt means will act as an effective deterrent for people like Suresh Kalmadi and A. Raja, she added.

On being asked what makes her sure the Jan Lokpal will not become corrupt, Bedi said, "It's very transparent. It has a search committee and it is very accountable. All its functioning will become website-oriented. It will be a harbinger of change."

Bedi summed up saying that she is still youthful at heart. Her passion, determination and drive to be just and fearless against pressure and adversaries remain intact. That is so because she trained hard as a sportswoman earlier in her life. She told the youth that what they do now in their formative years will have a lasting bearing on the rest of their life. She shared her experiences with the youth on how to deal with life. 

The former IPS officer, who calls herself a rebel by nature, told the gathering, her passion to stand against the unjust has remained undiminished since her childhood. She attributed this to her devotion to sports. Bedi was an ace tennis player and women tennis's Asian champion at the age of twenty.

Sports gave right focus to immense store of energy in her that helped her lifelong, she said. Bedi feels spiritual, mental and physical are all essential components of education and sports provide best training in the formative years. 

Saying she never lost her focus in life, Bedi said she joined the Indian Police Service at the age of 22 in 1972, a profession considered taboo for women. She added soon she became a role model for men during training years. She called it 'destiny' that she was transferred to Delhi. In 1975, she had a frank talk with the then IG Police (now called Commissioner) Delhi, P.R. Rajgopal, to persuade him to lead the January 26 parade in 1976. "This is one event that announced the arrival of women in the police force," she says raising fist in the air.

She never looked back. In 1982, Bedi issued a ticket to the driver of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi when her car was wrongly parked. "She was in power, so was I," Bedi said, asserting the point that policing has to be just and equitable. There cannot be two different standards for the rich and the poor.

She explained that she was perhaps not made the commissioner of Delhi Police, because she would have not bowed down to the will of politicians. Earlier, she was not given the charge of anti-terror wing of Delhi Police simply because she would have released people held illegally in the name of anti-terror investigations, she said.

Motivating the youth, she said, "Had I not been somebody, I would have been nobody. So, I never lost track of my priority. At 16, I knew when to say yes, when to say no... What you did in teenage returns to you at 20-23."