Virtual Inauguration of YfGG on the occasion of Independence Day

Youth for Good Governance was officially inaugurated on 15th August, 2020 on the occasion of Independence Day. The opening remarks for the event was given by Saranya Jayaram who is one of the core team members of the organisation.

In her opening remarks, she highlighted the importance and implication of Independence Day, power and responsibility through the following comments: most often, the pool of power generally brings an ocean of responsibilities with it and how one deals with those responsibilities defines the way forward. Hence, it becomes extremely necessary that we are aware of who the policy makers and leaders are. Not all of us can hold titular positions concerning the country, but we could most certainly contribute in our limited capacity towards increasing awareness and show that there is an active social engagement especially for matters concerning economic transforms. The eloquent wisdom in Swami Vivekananda’s speeches has never ceased to inspire us. His speeches are testimony to the fact he had tremendous faith in the country’s youth which should inspire all of us to work towards a better future for the country.

Sourav Mukherjee who is one of the co-founders of the organisation also added his remarks by saying that one of the main motivations for celebrating Independence Day is to make the young generation aware of the sacrifices made by Great leaders to make this country a better place for us. Hence, it becomes our duty to serve the nation and to make every possible effort in making our country better. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “ If we were to bring back our ancient glory, power and prosperity, it is in the hands of the youth.” It is the youth of the country, he said, who can educate and inspire the masses. It is the youth of this country who can rouse the spirit and consciousness of the people and awaken them to a sense of their own human dignity. In one of his inspiring messages to the youth, he says, “Teach yourself, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.” And personally since Sourav was born in the holy soil of Bengal, it is his dream to fulfil the vision that Swami Vivekananda had for the youth of a great nation. He thought that the best way to awaken the youth of our country and build national pride in them is by encouraging them to participate in community services and development schemes of the government which inspired him to establish YfGG. He and his friends came together to form this platform named as Youth for Good Governance (YfGG) aspiring to achieve this vision through youth intensive programs by involving students from private and government schools, colleges and engaging them with the government through this platform.

N. Santosh Hegde was one of the Chief Guests for the event. Sir is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, former Solicitor General of India and Lokayukta for Karnataka State of India from 2006 to 2011. He started his remarks by saying that on seeing people suffering because of maladministration and poor governance, he wanted to know what was the reason behind it which led him to study the governance system from the days of independence and trace it up to today’s situation. In 1946, our elders created a body called the Constituent Assembly to frame a constitution for this country. That assembly functioned from 1946-1949 till the month of November. A wonderful document called The Constitution of India was prepared by that body and which was accepted by we, the people of India on 26th January,1956. He then went on to give us a background which led to the present situation. While discussing what type of a political system that this country should have, he said that our elders spoke with emotion. They said, “ We Indians were never independent. We were under the ruling of Rajas, Maharajas and Foreigners. They made the law they liked and we had no say in that matter.” So they pleaded now that India was going to become independent, they should set up a political system where every Indian feels this governance is mine, by me and for me. Historically, in the international sphere there were many political systems, such as monarchy, dictatorship, communism, socialism, capitalism and so on. Amongst them there was a system called democracy. The meaning of the word democracy then was government of the people, by the people and for the people. What is it today led to our own understanding and judgements. Hence, this is what led our elders to accept democracy as the political system of this country.

He has seen the governance up close from the year 1970. The very same legislature which functioned from 1946-1949 called the Constituent Assembly, and there was never a single walkout during those times because they were the representatives of the people and the best of people were chosen to prepare the Constitution of India. However, fast forward to 2014, when the Lok Sabha was to meet for fourteen day, there was not one day when one resolution was discussed. There were walkouts and the house was adjourned. The Times of India says that at that point of time one day’s expense of Lok Sabha was Rs. 10 Crores. This is what has happened by the passage of time. The backbone of the constitution was moral values that formed the very essence in the first place and is slowly disintegrating. In this country, court cases sometimes take 15 to 16 years to conclude. There is one appellate court, second appellate court, the High court and the Supreme court. By the time the final judgement comes from the Supreme court it sometimes takes more than 50 years too! He explained that such situations are arising because people concerned in bringing about the change are not bothered about it. The fall in basic moral values and conscience has led to such a scenario. He concluded his remarks by appealing to the youth to inculcate two values in them one of which is contentment in life and the other is of humanism. He said that if one doesn't don’t have contentment, then one gets a disease called greed which has no limitation and which ultimately is responsible for the downfall of a system.

Dr. Jayprakash Narayan, the other eminent Chief Guest for the event, a former physician and founder of the Lok Satta Party, highlighted that it is a remarkable accomplishment for a country as diverse, multi-lingual, and complex as India to preserve its unity while respecting its diversity. Not many in the world are given that chance. It was believed to be an impossible miracle. Nonetheless, We continue to maintain that miracle. The reason why we are contemplating on this auspicious day is to look at the governance of India and to look at better governance. This is because we are discontented. Not nearly discontent of a human being striving for perfection. But, because we could see that in many areas we have under performed. The freedom that we have guaranteed ourselves under the Constitution is not real for all, it is only titular, on paper for most of the people. Even today unfulfilled potential is plaguing the lives of millions of Indians. He then concluded by saying that unless we build institutional capability to deliver on a mass scale, make our government work for us in the way it is intended to work through fundamental change, understanding where we have gone wrong, how to set things right, understanding the best practices and examples and institutionalizing them for mass application. Only then can we actually claim that we have good governance.

After the opening remarks by such notable figures, Youth for Good Governance was officially inaugurated and established as a formal organisation thereby becoming a new hope in the world of Governance and Policy.