Three Homilies And A Lesson

• a nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line,
  
• where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water,
  
• where agriculture, industry and the service sector work together in symphony,
  
• where education with a value system is not denied to any meritorious candidate because of societal or economic discrimination,
  
• which will be the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists and investors,
  
• where the best of healthcare is available to all,
  
• where governance is responsive, transparent and corruption-free,
  
• where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed, crimes against women and children are absent and none feels alienated,
  
• a nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path,
  
• a nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.

The second example is the advice given to Mahatma Gandhi by his mother. Gandhiji's mother advised him: "Son, in your entire lifetime if you can save or better someone's life, your birth as a human being and your life is a success. You have the blessings of the Almighty God". This attitude of bettering someone's life is an important message for every one of us.

The third is a story from the life of a great saint, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani, which happened about 1,000 years ago. One day, the child Abdul Qadir heard a cow saying, "What are you doing here in the grazing fields, it is not for this you have been created". Terrified, he ran back to his house and climbed on to the roof. From there he saw a large crowd of hajis returning from Mount Arafat, thousands of miles away. Abdul Qadir then went to his mother to ask her permission to make a journey to Baghdad in pursuit of knowledge. His mother understood the divine call and promptly permitted him to go. She gave him 40 gold coins which was his share of inheritance from his father. She stitched the gold coins inside the lining of his coat and bidding him farewell said: "Oh, my son! You are going! I have detached myself from you for the sake of Allah, knowing that I shall not see your face again until the day of last judgement. But take one advice from me. My son, you should always feel the truth, speak the truth and propagate the truth even when your life is at stake."

Abdul Qadir travelled with a small caravan heading for Baghdad. During the journey, when the caravan was passing through a tough terrain, robbers on horses suddenly attacked the caravan and started looting. None of them took the slightest notice of Abdul Qadir, until one of the looters turned to him and said. "You there, poor boy! Do you have anything with you?" Abdul Qadir replied, "I have got 40 gold coins which are stitched by my mother in the lining of my coat under my armpit." The looter smiled, he thought Abdul Qadir was joking. He left him alone and moved elsewhere. But the robbers took him to their leader, saying: "This poor boy claims that he is in possession of 40 gold coins. We looted everybody but we have not touched him because we hardly believed that he has got gold coins with him". The leader put the same question to Abdul Qadir and received the same reply. Then the leader ripped his coat and discovered that he indeed had 40 gold coins hidden inside the lining of his coat.

The astonished leader asked Abdul Qadir what prompted him to make this confession? Abdul Qadir replied: "My mother made me promise to always be truthful even at the cost of my life. Here, it was a matter of only 40 gold coins. I promised to never betray her trust, so I told the truth". The looters started weeping and said, "You have adhered to the advice of your great mother but we have been betraying the trust of our parents and the covenant of our Creator for many years. From now onwards, you will be our leader in our repentance. " From that moment, they gave up robbery and became righteous persons. Thus the world saw the birth of a great saint, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani, out of a message of truth a mother gave to her child. These three events highlight how moral values, the third component of NPI, can be built among citizens, particularly youth.

In conclusion, to achieve the goals of developed India, a swift and bold national movement is essential. In this movement, every citizen, every constituent of our democracy has to participate. What can be the profile of people's participation in this development movement? The citizen's participation can be in many important areas like reaching the unreached and to create awareness, feedback on service to the people, human resource development, entrepreneurship, homemakers contributing to societal upliftment, environment development, youth participation in the political system with the focus on developed India.

When I participated in the award function organised by Air India in partnership with Malayala Manorama, I asked each one of the award winners about his or her vision. I would like to share with you two typical responses. One from a teacher and the other from a student. The teacher said that his vision was to make each one of his students stand on his or her own feet. That means empowering the students for life. The student said that his vision was to bridge the hearts of people. What a noble vision these young minds have visualised! There is a need for initiatives of this kind to spread through the length and breadth of the country. I would also like to highlight a beautiful incident, which took place on August 3, 2007, at New Delhi. I met a group of inspired youth and students from Pune who are members of Friends' Society. They are working in the sphere of social, ecological and personality development activities. They have successfully accomplished cleaning the water bodies in Pune with the participation of 2,500 students, plastic collection drives, a ban-plastic movement, recycling paper projects, eco-conversion and awareness drive and a grandpa-grandma friends club which are having a direct impact on the quality of life of people in society. When I asked them how they are able to achieve such difficult societal missions, the leader of the group, Darshan P. Mundada, said it was through the interconnecting of minds in their leisure time. I was happy to find that in spite of their participation in a societal movement, all the boys and girls have done very well in their chosen field of education. We need many such empowered youth across the country to realise the envisioned development profile of India in 2020 leading to the "Evolution of Integrated National Prosperity Mission".