I grew up reading about politicians and
public servants I grew up reading about
leaders I read about a great leader who
stood up and said democracy is a
government of the people by the people
and for the people and that was my
introduction to democracy I grew up
reading and reciting the speech of the
first prime minister of this great
nation
who at the stroke of midnight said as
long as there is suffering and as long
as there are tears our work will not be
over and that was my introduction to
public service I grew up reading about a
leader who marched across Selma rallied
an entire nation together and stood up
in Washington and said I have a dream
and that was my introduction to purpose
and I grew up reading about a leader who
was born in this very same state but
today belongs to the world who stood up
and with him our nation stood up who
marched and with him an idea marched a
Mahatma who walked us to freedom and
beyond and that was my introduction to
leadership these were my heroes they
inspired me to do what I do today they
made me realize the promise of public
service and the duty of nation-building
you see I’m a millennial I’m a 90s child
I was born around the same time when we
opened the economy in this country I saw
an ancient civilization which was now a
modern state open her arms to the rest
of the world
I saw Prime Minister speak in Hindi at
the United Nations
I saw our flag land on the moon
I saw our army reclaim Kargil I saw our
crafts enter the orbit of Moon and Mars
I saw our citizens stand together during
26/11 and I saw our cricket team lift a
World Cup I’ve seen this nation see big
dreams and achieve each one of those
I’ve seen our citizens woo the world and
I’ll set new standards and still last
year when I came across a survey by the
World Economic Forum that said that 86%
people in the world today believe that
we are undergoing a global leadership
crisis that our politicians are the
second least trusted people on the
planet I was not surprised or shocked
having grown up in small towns and
villages of Bihar when I would see my
young friends who would be frustrated
when there would be a power cut the
moment they sat down to do their
homework on who would be angry and upset
when they could not find a single clean
playground to go and play away when they
wanted to relax I was no secondhand
witness to what a global leadership
crisis looks like I may not have seen
the world then but I had a perspective
how people all around the world feel
when they have been let down by their
politics and their politicians when a
government’s failed to serve us and our
politicians failed to show up what kind
of a leadership crisis we see in remote
disconnected parts of this country and
the world it’s not a story
that most of us are strangers to so when
I heard about this survey I read more
and more and I wondered if it was
something that told us or asked us to be
more cynical to give up hope or it was
something that invited
to the larger cause and I choose the
larger cause and I invite you to choose
the larger cause because remember this
is the generation that will have to be
the defining generation in the timeline
of human history this is the generation
that will on one hand have to bring more
nuclear energy and on the other hand
will have to fight for nuclear
disarmament this is the generation that
will have to send more and more of its
citizens to work and continue to bring
more and more robots to our industries
we are the only generation that will
have to fight both against rising
intolerance and rising sea levels
we’ll have to detoxify the air that we
breathe in and the conversations that we
have we are the first generation the
first generation that will have to move
both inwards and outwards as individuals
as citizens and as Nations so I did not
come here today to introduce you to a
big crisis called the global leadership
crisis I came here today to invite you
to a big global opportunity and you know
what that opportunity is the next Prime
Minister is in a classroom today and we
can change the way we run this country
and we see this world if we can educate
that child right so let’s get started if
I told you that you were a teacher for
the next few minutes imagine being a
teacher a teacher in a classroom a
classroom of some 40 students each
coming from a different background
each known for something or the other a
bad excuse or a good joke a melodious
song or meritorious work and if I walked
in and told you that the next Prime
Minister is in your classroom would you
react any differently would you look
around at least one time trying to hear
the words unsaid the dreams unnoticed
the actions that you never thought
existed in that classroom
would you look for that dream in every
eye and the hope in every heart one more
time so I’m not making this up this is
true the next prime minister of this
country is in a classroom already and
can we change the way we educate him or
her and that is what all of us not just
as teachers but as parents as friends as
siblings need to think about so here’s
what I propose
for a world that is becoming
increasingly complex we’ll have to teach
our kids to be next generation leaders I
envision four key skills for every
single child in this country and in this
world and two core values that should
drive us when we are in our classrooms
and even when we are in the prime
minister’s office those four key skills
are critical thinking research
communication and leadership and the two
core values are empathy and fearlessness
so let’s get started
let’s get started by bringing the first
two into our classrooms critical
thinking and research for a nation that
wonders very often that will we continue
engaging in a politics of right versus
left or will we engage in a politics of
right versus wrong will our children
choose politics of fear or politics of
hope will our children continue to see
people as numbers and percentages on the
electronic voting machine and in the
electoral records of this country or
will our children see our people as
people and as individuals with unique
stories and unique backgrounds in order
to decide that let’s bring that first
lesson of critical thinking and research
into our classrooms let’s begin putting
our kids into situations let’s take them
back to 1991 or to 1965 let’s take them
to 1984 or 1947 put them in a situation
be it the opening of an economy or the
closing of a dam be it an amendment to
the Constitution or a group of people
protesting to get something done and ask
them to take decision-making positions
so for example let’s get started with
the opening of the economy ask your kids
to be the finance minister for one day
not like how they do in the movies but
how we should do in our classrooms at
homes ask your children to write two
notes the first note as a finance
minister of India who wants to tell this
country why the opening of our economy
is good for this country but that’s not
it ask them to write another note as the
Finance Minister of India tell our
citizens what all can go wrong and why
this may not be a good thing and why
this nation needs to be prepared ask
them to write both of those notes and
then write a final note based on their
own research based on their own
conclusions one that gives a balanced
finding and an honest idea to every
single citizen in this country about a
policy that can go right or wrong and
our citizens will not have to read
newspapers
or climb up a radio station to find out
what’s happening in this country let’s
start doing that through our own
classrooms let our kids have a balanced
perspective and a balanced opinion
through their own education now don’t
tell them what to do
give them Google give them access to
libraries tell them what they are
expected to do show them how to do it
but let them do it on their own we will
truly build a nation where we not have
to fight against the politics of fake
news and false narratives anymore we
will be able to bring research into our
policymaking evidence into the way our
decision-making happens and do this not
just in your classrooms but also as
parents as friends as people who love
and care for other people do it in
groups do it among each other try and
put yourselves in the shoes of different
people and once we have brought these
two key skills of critical thinking and
research in our classrooms let’s bring
back something that was always kept for
the royal families in the park but in
the past the art of public speaking the
art of communication let every child in
this country communicate effectively and
you know what’s the first step to do
that the first step to do that as a
teacher is to look and identify the kids
in your classroom who have never ever
spoken in the teachers presence for
several weeks in a row let’s get them to
start talking first let’s get them to
stand up and tell the other members of
the class what they understand in a
particular coursework or what they do
not understand sometimes when I kids do
not even understand the course material
let’s ask them to stand up and share
with the class how do they feel that
will make sure that tomorrow a 32 year
old mother who may be undergoing
domestic violence she will not have to
sit back before opening up to somebody
who needs to know and who needs to care
about what is actually happening to her
in her own life let’s teach all of our
kids to communicate effectively and not
just great ideas but also their greatest
pains and the greatest insecurities and
the fear that may they may feel in the
darkness of a room
let every child talk and as teachers and
as parents we can do that
let’s bring the second exercise back
once we have let every child talk
let’s do turncoat debates a beautiful
art of debating where once you start
speaking for the motion and somebody
says turncoat and you start speaking
against the motion I know we have seen a
lot of people in the past several
decades who speak for the motion
sometimes and against the motion at
other times no let them speak for the
motion and against the motion at the
same time let them find balanced
perspectives let them gain good ideas
let them become people who disagree with
others without becoming disagreeable and
that exercise of communication will help
us shape the perspectives of our kids in
a very balanced way without us telling
them what they should believe without us
telling them how they should behave let
them grow into fine young leaders
because remember we are educating a
prime minister here we are not just
educating any ordinary child but for
that matter if we truly believe in
educating a prime minister we will know
that every child has the capability of
being a prime minister in this country
so that’s about communication and then
let’s move to leadership the final skill
and you know as well as I do that a
nation that thinks critically that
researches deeply that communicates
effectively leadership should not be
something that we need to teach our kids
leadership will not be caught will not
be taught it will be caught by our kids
because they will see in their own
education and outside the kind of
decisions that they need to make but
leadership will need to come with two
core values the first value is that of
empathy let’s turn our classrooms in
schools and colleges across this country
and the world into places where if a
child shows up late to class the kids
ask the child is everything all right
was the breakfast too late where you
can’t caught in a traffic jam let kids
start putting themselves in the shoes of
others let them understand the pain of
others and in our own classrooms and in
our own home
let’s invite every single person to
start giving out these assignments to
their friends and to their kids that is
interview at least one person every
single week it can be somebody who you
meet in the streets it can be somebody
who you bump into at an airport it can
be somebody in a remote village of India
and a big metropolitan it does not
matter but don’t tell kids that people
are people they are not just numbers let
them go and meet people let them
understand that every stranger has a
child or some strangers have a child let
our kids grow up with balanced opinions
and let that idea of empathy come in
through their own exploration of stories
and ideas and finally fearlessness let
that begin in your classroom at the end
of every class or at the end of every
week allow your kids to stand up and
give you constructive feedback as to how
you are teaching how the classes are
going so that kids learn to tell you on
your face what they do not like because
a child who would stand up to his or her
class teacher and tell her what’s not
going right will not tomorrow be scared
to stand up in front of his or her Prime
Minister and tell him what’s not right
because that’s the kind of nation we
want to build and that’s the kind of
nation that thrives on this planet so
let’s do that
and with that all I want to tell you
today is this that with young children
who think critically research deeply
communicate effectively lead positively
and have the core values of empathy and
fearlessness we will truly address the
next global leadership crisis that
everybody is talking about we will truly
be a nation where everyone would be seen
as equal and we can all move forward as
one people no matter where we live how
much we earn which religion or which
family we were born in let’s come
together and build a great nation and
let’s come together and build the next
prime minister into a great human being
a great individual and let every single
nation swear in quality presidents and
prime ministers so that my generation
the 90s children the Millennials can
truly live in a world where they can say
all is great let’s work together to make
this world even greater
thank you everybody thank you so much
thank you
[Music]
you
public servants I grew up reading about
leaders I read about a great leader who
stood up and said democracy is a
government of the people by the people
and for the people and that was my
introduction to democracy I grew up
reading and reciting the speech of the
first prime minister of this great
nation
who at the stroke of midnight said as
long as there is suffering and as long
as there are tears our work will not be
over and that was my introduction to
public service I grew up reading about a
leader who marched across Selma rallied
an entire nation together and stood up
in Washington and said I have a dream
and that was my introduction to purpose
and I grew up reading about a leader who
was born in this very same state but
today belongs to the world who stood up
and with him our nation stood up who
marched and with him an idea marched a
Mahatma who walked us to freedom and
beyond and that was my introduction to
leadership these were my heroes they
inspired me to do what I do today they
made me realize the promise of public
service and the duty of nation-building
you see I’m a millennial I’m a 90s child
I was born around the same time when we
opened the economy in this country I saw
an ancient civilization which was now a
modern state open her arms to the rest
of the world
I saw Prime Minister speak in Hindi at
the United Nations
I saw our flag land on the moon
I saw our army reclaim Kargil I saw our
crafts enter the orbit of Moon and Mars
I saw our citizens stand together during
26/11 and I saw our cricket team lift a
World Cup I’ve seen this nation see big
dreams and achieve each one of those
I’ve seen our citizens woo the world and
I’ll set new standards and still last
year when I came across a survey by the
World Economic Forum that said that 86%
people in the world today believe that
we are undergoing a global leadership
crisis that our politicians are the
second least trusted people on the
planet I was not surprised or shocked
having grown up in small towns and
villages of Bihar when I would see my
young friends who would be frustrated
when there would be a power cut the
moment they sat down to do their
homework on who would be angry and upset
when they could not find a single clean
playground to go and play away when they
wanted to relax I was no secondhand
witness to what a global leadership
crisis looks like I may not have seen
the world then but I had a perspective
how people all around the world feel
when they have been let down by their
politics and their politicians when a
government’s failed to serve us and our
politicians failed to show up what kind
of a leadership crisis we see in remote
disconnected parts of this country and
the world it’s not a story
that most of us are strangers to so when
I heard about this survey I read more
and more and I wondered if it was
something that told us or asked us to be
more cynical to give up hope or it was
something that invited
to the larger cause and I choose the
larger cause and I invite you to choose
the larger cause because remember this
is the generation that will have to be
the defining generation in the timeline
of human history this is the generation
that will on one hand have to bring more
nuclear energy and on the other hand
will have to fight for nuclear
disarmament this is the generation that
will have to send more and more of its
citizens to work and continue to bring
more and more robots to our industries
we are the only generation that will
have to fight both against rising
intolerance and rising sea levels
we’ll have to detoxify the air that we
breathe in and the conversations that we
have we are the first generation the
first generation that will have to move
both inwards and outwards as individuals
as citizens and as Nations so I did not
come here today to introduce you to a
big crisis called the global leadership
crisis I came here today to invite you
to a big global opportunity and you know
what that opportunity is the next Prime
Minister is in a classroom today and we
can change the way we run this country
and we see this world if we can educate
that child right so let’s get started if
I told you that you were a teacher for
the next few minutes imagine being a
teacher a teacher in a classroom a
classroom of some 40 students each
coming from a different background
each known for something or the other a
bad excuse or a good joke a melodious
song or meritorious work and if I walked
in and told you that the next Prime
Minister is in your classroom would you
react any differently would you look
around at least one time trying to hear
the words unsaid the dreams unnoticed
the actions that you never thought
existed in that classroom
would you look for that dream in every
eye and the hope in every heart one more
time so I’m not making this up this is
true the next prime minister of this
country is in a classroom already and
can we change the way we educate him or
her and that is what all of us not just
as teachers but as parents as friends as
siblings need to think about so here’s
what I propose
for a world that is becoming
increasingly complex we’ll have to teach
our kids to be next generation leaders I
envision four key skills for every
single child in this country and in this
world and two core values that should
drive us when we are in our classrooms
and even when we are in the prime
minister’s office those four key skills
are critical thinking research
communication and leadership and the two
core values are empathy and fearlessness
so let’s get started
let’s get started by bringing the first
two into our classrooms critical
thinking and research for a nation that
wonders very often that will we continue
engaging in a politics of right versus
left or will we engage in a politics of
right versus wrong will our children
choose politics of fear or politics of
hope will our children continue to see
people as numbers and percentages on the
electronic voting machine and in the
electoral records of this country or
will our children see our people as
people and as individuals with unique
stories and unique backgrounds in order
to decide that let’s bring that first
lesson of critical thinking and research
into our classrooms let’s begin putting
our kids into situations let’s take them
back to 1991 or to 1965 let’s take them
to 1984 or 1947 put them in a situation
be it the opening of an economy or the
closing of a dam be it an amendment to
the Constitution or a group of people
protesting to get something done and ask
them to take decision-making positions
so for example let’s get started with
the opening of the economy ask your kids
to be the finance minister for one day
not like how they do in the movies but
how we should do in our classrooms at
homes ask your children to write two
notes the first note as a finance
minister of India who wants to tell this
country why the opening of our economy
is good for this country but that’s not
it ask them to write another note as the
Finance Minister of India tell our
citizens what all can go wrong and why
this may not be a good thing and why
this nation needs to be prepared ask
them to write both of those notes and
then write a final note based on their
own research based on their own
conclusions one that gives a balanced
finding and an honest idea to every
single citizen in this country about a
policy that can go right or wrong and
our citizens will not have to read
newspapers
or climb up a radio station to find out
what’s happening in this country let’s
start doing that through our own
classrooms let our kids have a balanced
perspective and a balanced opinion
through their own education now don’t
tell them what to do
give them Google give them access to
libraries tell them what they are
expected to do show them how to do it
but let them do it on their own we will
truly build a nation where we not have
to fight against the politics of fake
news and false narratives anymore we
will be able to bring research into our
policymaking evidence into the way our
decision-making happens and do this not
just in your classrooms but also as
parents as friends as people who love
and care for other people do it in
groups do it among each other try and
put yourselves in the shoes of different
people and once we have brought these
two key skills of critical thinking and
research in our classrooms let’s bring
back something that was always kept for
the royal families in the park but in
the past the art of public speaking the
art of communication let every child in
this country communicate effectively and
you know what’s the first step to do
that the first step to do that as a
teacher is to look and identify the kids
in your classroom who have never ever
spoken in the teachers presence for
several weeks in a row let’s get them to
start talking first let’s get them to
stand up and tell the other members of
the class what they understand in a
particular coursework or what they do
not understand sometimes when I kids do
not even understand the course material
let’s ask them to stand up and share
with the class how do they feel that
will make sure that tomorrow a 32 year
old mother who may be undergoing
domestic violence she will not have to
sit back before opening up to somebody
who needs to know and who needs to care
about what is actually happening to her
in her own life let’s teach all of our
kids to communicate effectively and not
just great ideas but also their greatest
pains and the greatest insecurities and
the fear that may they may feel in the
darkness of a room
let every child talk and as teachers and
as parents we can do that
let’s bring the second exercise back
once we have let every child talk
let’s do turncoat debates a beautiful
art of debating where once you start
speaking for the motion and somebody
says turncoat and you start speaking
against the motion I know we have seen a
lot of people in the past several
decades who speak for the motion
sometimes and against the motion at
other times no let them speak for the
motion and against the motion at the
same time let them find balanced
perspectives let them gain good ideas
let them become people who disagree with
others without becoming disagreeable and
that exercise of communication will help
us shape the perspectives of our kids in
a very balanced way without us telling
them what they should believe without us
telling them how they should behave let
them grow into fine young leaders
because remember we are educating a
prime minister here we are not just
educating any ordinary child but for
that matter if we truly believe in
educating a prime minister we will know
that every child has the capability of
being a prime minister in this country
so that’s about communication and then
let’s move to leadership the final skill
and you know as well as I do that a
nation that thinks critically that
researches deeply that communicates
effectively leadership should not be
something that we need to teach our kids
leadership will not be caught will not
be taught it will be caught by our kids
because they will see in their own
education and outside the kind of
decisions that they need to make but
leadership will need to come with two
core values the first value is that of
empathy let’s turn our classrooms in
schools and colleges across this country
and the world into places where if a
child shows up late to class the kids
ask the child is everything all right
was the breakfast too late where you
can’t caught in a traffic jam let kids
start putting themselves in the shoes of
others let them understand the pain of
others and in our own classrooms and in
our own home
let’s invite every single person to
start giving out these assignments to
their friends and to their kids that is
interview at least one person every
single week it can be somebody who you
meet in the streets it can be somebody
who you bump into at an airport it can
be somebody in a remote village of India
and a big metropolitan it does not
matter but don’t tell kids that people
are people they are not just numbers let
them go and meet people let them
understand that every stranger has a
child or some strangers have a child let
our kids grow up with balanced opinions
and let that idea of empathy come in
through their own exploration of stories
and ideas and finally fearlessness let
that begin in your classroom at the end
of every class or at the end of every
week allow your kids to stand up and
give you constructive feedback as to how
you are teaching how the classes are
going so that kids learn to tell you on
your face what they do not like because
a child who would stand up to his or her
class teacher and tell her what’s not
going right will not tomorrow be scared
to stand up in front of his or her Prime
Minister and tell him what’s not right
because that’s the kind of nation we
want to build and that’s the kind of
nation that thrives on this planet so
let’s do that
and with that all I want to tell you
today is this that with young children
who think critically research deeply
communicate effectively lead positively
and have the core values of empathy and
fearlessness we will truly address the
next global leadership crisis that
everybody is talking about we will truly
be a nation where everyone would be seen
as equal and we can all move forward as
one people no matter where we live how
much we earn which religion or which
family we were born in let’s come
together and build a great nation and
let’s come together and build the next
prime minister into a great human being
a great individual and let every single
nation swear in quality presidents and
prime ministers so that my generation
the 90s children the Millennials can
truly live in a world where they can say
all is great let’s work together to make
this world even greater
thank you everybody thank you so much
thank you
[Music]
you
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