Our Indian values and nationalism should be communicated and taught to our children from a very early stage in their lives. Only when they love their homes and their country do they appreciate the diversity, heritage and history. It is only then that they strive to improve their countries. I think I really need to thank my parents, teachers and my experience in Shakhas for nurturing Indian values in me. Even when I travelled around the world, I knew I want to return to my country, my India and serve my nation.

We as elders need to reach out more to the youth to inculcate a sense of belonging in our younger generation as it is only through that we can build the future leaders of our country, who will be willing to go to any extent to serve our country. We need to make the youth understand the true value of unity, our heritage and nationalism which are extremely important for the prosperity of our country. They are our future leaders and they need to learn and imbibe the value of our heritage. Even after so many years of struggle, now that we have a stable nation, we all should be bound by same hopes, aspirations and dreams. We all need to understand we are Indians first. History is proof that only when we are united together as a country, we can overcome any challenge and prosper!

The youth of our country have the power to transform our nation; for better or for worse. If they are taught good and positive values, they will influence their peers into contributing to building a strong nation. We need to show them the beauty of Indian and Vedic values which will help them become the rightful flag bearers for our nation. The feeling of nationalism, love and respect for our country should be the sole motivation for their service to the nation. They should learn to take pride in being an Indian and should always strive to work for the prosperity of India.

But, nowadays, the youths are being swayed away from these values. The nature of anybody in their youth is to rebel. It was true for all of us. But we were taught which battles need to be fought and we were given a direction by our elders. The youth today are swayed to be anti-establishment as it sounds “cool” to them. What they fail to understand that the only establishment which is fighting for a united country is the Government of India. Rest of the establishments are breeding grounds of divisive ideas which are now being propagated to the youth. Vulnerable as they are, young children are falling for this and are being brainwashed little by little.

I think as elders who have fought our own battles to get to where we are today, we should engage more with the youth today and teach them the values that were taught to us by our elders. We cannot be arm-chair preachers speaking of utopia! So, to aptly engage with them, we must use social media to reach the youth. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok should be our way to go. We must know that these are the only ways to reach our youth now. With changing times, our methods should also change. With the advent of digitalisation, values should also be taught digitally. I am sure our children will understand if our values are taught to them their way! After all, our Indian and Vedic values are extremely transformative in nature to adapt and mould to the changing times!

It is only then that we can expect our children to behave like responsible citizens. They are the future of our country and it is upon us to make our future bright. We need to teach them to protect and preserve the values of our society and our country. We need to stop them from always complaining, criticising and picking at the government. Rather, we should teach them to work for the growth and development of this nation. We should teach them to love their nation unconditionally and see what the nation has already given them and what they can give the nation in the future. We need to teach them to stand united in terms of all adversities and together bring our country out of all dire situations. We need to teach them to imbibe our Indian values in all their actions and deeds. After all, who better than us can teach them that it is only when we stay united and devoted to our nation can we win against all odds and thrive as a strong and prosperous nation!

About Abhinav Khare

Abhinav Khare is the CEO of Asianet News Network and also the host of a daily show named Deep Dive with AK. He has a lifetime collection of books and gadgets and has already pinged more than hundred cities around the globe. 

He is a tech entrepreneur, who is passionate about policy, technology, economy and philosophy from ancient India. He earned an MS Engineering from the ETH Zurich and an MBA Finance from the London Business School.