Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday called on India’s youth to build on the country’s achievements in science, technology and sports, while leading efforts to conserve water, protect natural resources, keep the nation clean and promote Indian handicrafts.Inaugurating the Viveka Smaraka — the Vivekananda cultural youth centre — in Mysuru, Modi said Swami Vivekananda believed that empowering young people was the strongest foundation for nation-building.“Swamy Vivekananda’s vision was to mentor our youth and empower them to work for nation-building. He considered education of the youth as a strong foundation for nation-building,” he said.Modi said India’s youth were transforming the country by combining opportunity with the confidence to dream big. “The potential of the youth becomes a driving force only when they find the right opportunities and the right direction to dream big.”He said young Indians were powering the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem and playing a pivotal role in Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives. Their contribution, he added, had helped India become the world’s second-largest mobile phone market while making strides in semiconductor manufacturing, innovation and private space missions.Highlighting the expansion of higher education over the past 12 years, the Prime Minister said the country had added more than 650 universities, 14,000 colleges, over 4,000 ITIs, nine IIMs, seven IITs and 13 AIIMS. Medical seats had risen to 1.4 lakh across 823 medical colleges.Viveka Smaraka has been built at the site where Swami Vivekananda had stayed during his 1892 visit to Mysuru before embarking on his historic journey to the West.SidelightsModi meditates at Vivekananda memorialThe PM visited the Vivekananda memorial in Mysuru, where he meditated before Swami Vivekananda’s portrait, offered prayers and planted a bilwa patre sapling. He also visited the room where Vivekananda stayed before leaving for Chicago in 1893 to attend the World Parliament of Religions. The memorial, set up by the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, preserves the site’s historical significance and houses meditation halls, a library, classrooms and an exhibition centre.DSS activists detainedPolice detained 13 Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS) activists ahead of the PM’s Mysuru visit, preventing their planned “Go Back Modi” march. DSS leader Choranahalli Shivanna was also detained from his residence.The activists had planned to protest against the alleged lack of compensation for families of 21 students who died by suicide following the alleged NEET paper leak and the demolition of a girls’ school for the construction of Viveka Smaraka, where Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre.DKS seeks Modi’s support, says India’s growth linked to K’takaCM DK Shivakumar, sharing the dais with the PM in Mysuru, urged the Centre to extend greater support to the state, saying India’s growth was closely tied to Karnataka’s progress. Addressing the gathering after the inauguration of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre, he said Karnataka and Bengaluru were India’s gateway to the world and sought stronger backing under the spirit of cooperative federalism.
