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I personally had the opportunity to visit 11 chapters in the past 2 months, namely Indore, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore, Srinagar, Ahmedabad and Chittoor. Some of the very interesting chapter events that I witnessed included the first ‘Buddy network’ meeting at Chennai, a learning session on ‘The first 1000 days of being an Entrepreneur’ in Ahmedabad, interactions with Yi student nets in Kashmir and rural colleges in Chittoor, visit to the Deep Jyoti School in Guwahati that helps underprivileged children to enroll into schools, interactions with ‘Young in government’ and many more.
On the national level, I must congratulate the Kochi chapter for rolling out the Indian Parliament Simulation flagship event under Yi Youth Affairs. 130 students from 32 institutes from 18 cities got together for a leadership experience unlike any other. They role played as Parliamentarians representing constituencies, defended party policies while balancing public opinion and debating on national priorities. The experience that they took away from the simulation will certainly inspire many of the participants to join active politics, improve governance and shape the future of India.
Yi continued to engage young leaders in meaningful dialogue. Recent Interactions included meeting with Mr Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and also an interactive session with him in Coimbatore, a most interesting session with the Chief Election Commissioner of India in Mumbai to inspire youth to vote in the Maharashtra elections, and a round table with Mr Omar Abdullah during Yi’s mission to Kashmir.
The Yi Environment team rolled out the 3rd edition of the Yi Green Eye contest that engaged over 130 schools in submitting ideas and projects to make their school campuses more environmentally sustainable. The Yi Healthcare team also marked the World Food Day by uniting the efforts of 16 Yi chapters across India in providing a square meal to 10,947 people and also carrying out activities like street plays, road shows, awareness drives, etc. This was the first time in the history of Yi that several chapters have worked towards a common activity showing the true Yi spirit of giving.
The Yi Aries Agro farmers network conducted the fifth edition of Agromax in Guwahati, with over 300 young farmers net members from the North Eastern states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland in attendance. The session was applauded by Government and Industry in its efforts of bridging the knowledge gaps that exist and improving productivity and farm incomes in the region.
The months ahead promise a lot more excitement and many more interesting activities. Notable amongst these are the 2nd BMW World Young Leaders Forum in Mumbai, where 250 young leaders from around the world will meet over 4 days and discuss ‘Social Cohesion and Responsible Leadership in a Globalised World’. For the first time, Yi is putting together a special session on India@75 during the Forum’s proceedings. Our National Summit scheduled on February 5, 2010 in New Delhi and will be a great platform for Yi’s membership. We are also looking forward to Yi’s Overseas Mission and the first Yi farmers’ overseas mission to Israel.
I sincerely appreciate every Yi member, the Chapter & National office bearers and each Executive Member who have made these past months so full of activity, enthusiasm and high impact activities. Yi is your creation and with only with your continued efforts, can we emerge as the Voice of Young Indians.
Warm personal regards,
Dr Rahul Mirchandani
National Chairman, CII’s Young Indians,
& Executive Director, Aries Agro Limited
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