01 - 08 - 2026

From monk to microchip, Modi pitches India’s biggest asset: its youth

More than 130 years after Swami Vivekananda arrived in Mysuru as an unknown wandering monk, Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to the city on Saturday to argue that India’s next great journey would be led not by monks or monarchs, but by its young innovators.

In inaugurating the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre (Viveka Smaraka) at the Ramakrishna Ashrama, Modi used a spiritual occasion to make an economic case: that India’s demographic dividend has become its most valuable strategic asset, powering everything from startups and artificial intelligence to semiconductor manufacturing and digital public infrastructure.

“The world’s third-largest startup ecosystem has been built because of the strength of India’s youth,” Modi said. “India has become the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer because of the strength of its youth. India is rapidly moving ahead in semiconductor manufacturing and AI because of the capability of its youth.”

The speech was less about welfare or employment than about competitiveness. Modi repeatedly returned to the idea that India’s rise in the global economy would depend not on inexpensive labour alone, but on educated, skilled and entrepreneurial young people capable of building technologies for the world.

Arise, Awake

Invoking Vivekananda’s call to “Arise, Awake,” the Prime Minister recast the monk’s message for a digital age, saying the country’s youth were now leading India’s transition from a services-led economy to one increasingly defined by innovation, advanced manufacturing and knowledge industries.

He credited initiatives such as Startup India, Digital India, Make in India and the Mudra loan programme with giving young entrepreneurs the confidence to build businesses at home, while arguing that India’s digital ecosystem was becoming a model for other countries.

Modi said the government’s investments in education were intended to sustain that momentum. Over the past 12 years, he said, India had added more than 650 universities, expanded IITs and AIIMS, increased medical education capacity and introduced the National Education Policy to align learning with the demands of a rapidly changing economy.

He also cited more than 14,000 PM SHRI schools and over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs as part of an effort to foster innovation from an early age, while expanding access through education in Indian languages and greater opportunities for girls.

Beyond technology, Modi linked human capital with sporting excellence, saying investments in sports infrastructure and competitions such as the Khelo India Youth Games were producing internationally competitive athletes and discovering talent from villages and smaller towns.

The Prime Minister also reflected on his own association with the Ramakrishna Mission, saying its teachings had influenced his personal journey. He described Mysuru as a city where India’s civilisational heritage and intellectual traditions continued to thrive and recalled that the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore had recognised Vivekananda’s potential long before the monk gained international acclaim.

Praising the century-old Ramakrishna Ashrama for its work in education, healthcare and disaster relief, Modi said the Viveka Smaraka would become a centre for nurturing young Indians committed to character, service and national development. He concluded with an appeal to preserve Kannada’s literary tradition, protect the environment, conserve water and support local artisans by buying products such as Mysuru silk, sandalwood crafts and traditional handicrafts.

If Vivekananda once urged India to awaken its spiritual consciousness, Modi’s message in Mysuru was that the country’s next awakening would be measured in innovation, enterprise and the confidence of its youth to compete with the world.