Internet can help the youth realise their dreams: CII's Gopalakrishnan

Advising the country's youth to develop entrepreneurial skills, industry body CII's President Kris Gopalakrishnan on Friday said Internet and technology can help them realise their dreams.

"Technology today has opened several avenues, something we did not have when we started. Internet can play a crucial role in helping the youth in India realise their dreams," he said at the 10th Young Indians National Summit in New Delhi.

Giving the example of Infosys, Gopalakrishnan said that when he, along with six others including co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, started the firm in 1981, the total employee strength was seven and the capital was Rs. 10,000. The company took 18 years to reach a turnover of $100 million in 1999.

"But, now things have changed. With the advancement in technology, if you have the will and way to succeed, such things can be achieved in a shorter span," he said.

Internet can act as a great leveraging force and has the capacity to catapult the youth of this country into the global race, Gopalakrishnan, who is also the Executive Vice Chairman of Infosys, added.

Department of Youth Affairs Secretary Rajiv Gupta said the government is also working towards helping the youth in the country realise their potential.

"The government has approved the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014, replacing NYP 2003. Its vision is to empower youth to achieve their full potential and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations," he added.

For achieving this vision, NYP identifies five well-defined objectives and 11 priority areas and suggests policy interventions in each such area, Gupta said.

The priority areas are education, skill development and employment, entrepreneurship, health and healthy lifestyle, sports, promotion of social values, community engagement, participation in politics and governance, youth engagement, inclusion and social justice.

"It will cover the entire country catering the needs of all youth in the age-group of 15-29 years, which constitutes 27.5 percent of the population according to Census 2011, that is about 33 crores persons," he said.

Young Indians is a non-government, not-for-profit and industry managed organisation. It was formed in 2002 with an objective of creating a platform for young Indians to realise the dream of a developed nation. Young Indians, a part of CII, has around 1,500 direct members in 32 chapters.