Speech by Bikash Kali Das at China India Youth Dialogue
25th July 2022
The China-India Youth Dialogue, an international forum themed on “Together for a Better Future,” was successfully held in Beijing on July 25. Under the guidance of China International Communications Group (CICG), the event was jointly organized by the CICG Center for Europe and Asia (China Pictorial Publications), China International Youth Exchange Center, and Cheena-Bhavana of Visva-Bharati University.
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Greetings Counsellor Zha Liyou, Vice President Gao Anming China International communication group., Prof. Avijit Banerjee, Cheena Bhavan Vista Bharati University, Director Zhang China International Youth exchange center, President Jiang Yonggang China Pictorial publication, My fellow speakers and friends ,
Thanking the organisers of todays event for the opportunity to put forward my perspective on India-China youth state of affairs.
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“ Confucious has told that a youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.”
Both India and China has always focused on the world’s development needs and joined hands with other countries to respond to the global agendas. This reflects the responsibility of two major Asian countries to promote the common development and progress of mankind. This forum “China-India Youth Dialogue” is very important in regard to the Asian century. When we talk about Youths of India and China they are mainly the Millennials and Generation Z population. There are about 440 million Millennials and 375 million Gen Zs in India whereas in China 400 million Millennials and 270-million Gen Zs. According to the latest UN figures, India and China are home to the world’s largest youth population.
The Youths of India and China shares a common traditional value.
Both comes from ancient living cultures, our society is very similar; they are just on different timelines. Both are more family oriented as compared to the western societies. Even in business , education and networking, both Youths of India and China are more pragmatic in building strong friendship ties. Today language is not a barrier for India and China, most Youths can speak more than 2 languages. Today we are not influenced by the media, we do not accept anything on its face value whether it is religion, culture or education. The 2 Youth generations, are focused more on better services than products. Also the Youths are greatly aware of the environment, they are open-minded and are willing to correct their mistakes. They are born into technology, raised with information on our fingertips. There are a few differences between the Millennials and Gen Z, is that the Millennials are willing to compromise on their aspirations and to match the reality but in case of Gen. Z they hardly compromise. The Gen Z are good at design, technology & IT and the Millennials are best in executing projects, work travel and leadership. The Millennial like to have one on one discussion whereas Gen Z mostly rely on online meetings. Today the Youths of India and China are more attracted and willing to work for social causes such as environment & biodiversity protection, climate changes, heritage conservation, sustainable development projects, Fighting poverty, Preventing bullying, Civil Rights Advocacy, Traditional healthcare, cross-culture exchanges and better tourism & living.
Today we can see the Youth population of both India, and China are attracted towards fancy lifestyles of Eastern and western nations. Due to attractive visa policies, and better education the youths migrates and eventually plans to settle outside their motherland. The Millennials invests in properties and business whereas the Gen Z opt for higher education. The question is why the Youths are not attracted to migrate in other Asian countries ? These are few pressing factors. Both India and China as the 2 great nations in Asia we have the responsibility towards the Youths. If our own rich and talented Youths cannot stay in Asia, how we can achieve a better and prosperous Asian century ?
The twenty-first century will really belong to Asia only if the Youths can develop unified, and collective leadership.
The correct Education is most important. – Confucious says “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
To make a healthy Youth cooperation between India and China, we need to focus on certain factors. First is the educational exchanges, the return of the students back to their institutions. There are a large number of Indian youths studying in China today, mostly in medical colleges and various phd programs. Some Chinese institutions have started collecting details for their return to China, but the assurance of returning back of the Indian students have not been stated officially by any Chinese institutions yet. Similarly many Chinese students have enrolled for language courses and various short term courses in India , they also could not join the Indian institutions yet. It is a understable that the pandemic has caused an imbalance, but we need to figure out some answers to solve the major youth problems today.
The Second factor is due to the restrictions on many social apps both in India and China the Social media connectivity between youths is minimal. In China youths are more in WeChat , whereas in India it is Instagram and Whatsapp. We lack a common platform for online communication for the Youths of India and China. The modern day Youth is fully equipped with heaps of information and connected to the rest of the world by touch of a button. Historical facts were once an indebted imagination of historians and were mostly not substantiated by ground realities. Therefore the Neo-Youths of this present era gains knowledge through uncomplicated system of connectivity and builds up diversified opinions on happenings of the past, present and the expected future. This has led todays youth feel the importance of freedom of expression unfettered by geographical, political, cultural and religious boundaries irrespective of the caste, creed and race of the youth to which they belong. Todays youth enjoy the support of their system and feel free in their expressions and access to information of their choice. Thus the freedom of connectivity to express with will is the aspiration of todays Youth, which will enhance the relationship between the Youth of India and China to gain a stronger bondage than ever before .
The last factor which I feel should be addressed is that there are no organisations or bodies where both Indian and Chinese youths are working together. Maybe there are a few but it is very minimal. Understanding the collective population of Youths in India and China there should be more interactions between the youths.
Bhagavad Gita teaches – “Ever-victorious are those who continually triumph over adverse circumstances by tapping on their inner strength. If you ever feel that, you are alone, wait for a moment, and look inside your soul.”
The Younger generation; today’s youth can better understand life in the light of the profound spiritual philosophy of Bhagavad Gita, Confucianism, Tao Te Ching and Upanishads.
To better understand each other we need to have more cross-cultural exchanges among Youths. We need to build more India-China cultural study centres. Through the cultural study centres the youths can learn language and culture, learn about each other and can work together for a better future by tackling the pressing issues of environment, climate , biodiversity , food , health and poverty. I wish to give an example of our study centre. Understanding the value and the cause we initiated the “XuFancheng culture study centre”, at Pondicherry India. It is one of a kind. non-governmental, non-profitable, and the 1st India-China Youth cross-cultural exchange centre, which was initiated on oct 26 , 2020 marking the 70th anniversary of India-China cultural relations and 111th birth anniversary of Prof. Xufancheng. The centre’s opening ceremony was attended online by Ambassador Sun Weidong, former Chief minister of Pondicherry ,Tourism Minister of Pondicherry, Dali University officials, Officials from Zhoushan City, Yunnan Prefecture and Dali Prefecture. Recently on June 1st 2022 visited by Ambassador Sun Weidong, Madam Ambassador Diana Bao and Cultural Counsellor Zhang Jianxin in person at Pondicherry. Through the centre we promote Chinese culture in India, and teach Indian culture to Chinese and enhance the China-India relations. Taking this forum as an opportunity, I wish to extend invitations to like minded individuals, institutions, and bodies to join and collaborate with us. We wish to open the branch of “XuFancheng culture study centre”at China too, most probably in Dali city or Zhoushan City. Our center’s main aim is to help the Youths of both India and China work together in different academic and cultural projects. Also we seek cooperations with Chinese Institutions, think tanks, big tech companies , etc., to consider providing internships and short term studies for the Indian Youths.
Through our centre we will provide internships and short term cross-cultural study programs at Pondicherry,(India) for the Chinese youths. Next year we have planned to initiate such programs for Chinese students, who can visit us for a period of 2-3 weeks and undertake different short term programs.
A great Chinese scholar XuFancheng once said “ if you want to experience Taoism, you should visit Pondicherry”. Prof. XuFancheng lived at Pondicherry for a period of 27 years and contributed his lifetime in translating the philosophical literatures of India and China which included confucianism, Tao Te Ching , Buddhism , Bhagavad Gita , Upanishads , integral Yoga and many more, even he translated the theatrical plays such as Kalidasa’s Meghdootam. I also wish to invite the delegations who are here present today at the forum to visit Pondicherry and our centre at your comfort in the near future.
Could the 21st century be an Asian Century?
For that to happen, India and China will have to play a decisive role and create a world based on good-neighbourliness and mutual prosperity rather than one based on the balance of power calculations and animosity. The responsibility for taking our bilateral relations to new heights is a shared one. The role of governments is important; equally relevant would the contribution of Youths in different disciplines in the realm of ideas, perspectives and policy options.We hope we can build a better world together through the concept of harmonious development in the spirit of “ Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” a text from the Upanishads, which means “The World Is One Family and “Datong shijie” the words from Confucius which means ‘a World of grand unity’.
“Zhong-Yin Da Tong” “Great Harmony between India and China” can describe the future of Asian century, if we use not only our complementarities in development and economic growth but also our great strengths in cultural and civilizational values, thus emerging as hubs of creativity and innovation, to create a fitting new paradigm for the India-China relations.
Thanking you all , I wish a very prosperous and bright day.
