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Regular-article-logo Wednesday, 24 April 2024

Confusion okay says youth leader in Calcutta

AIESEC is no longer used as an acronym but simply as the name of the organisation

Samyabrata Das Calcutta Published 30.08.19, 09:52 PM
Panellists at the youth forum on Friday

Panellists at the youth forum on Friday Telegraph picture

Confusion about what to do in life is okay with Anto Philip, the man behind one of India’s largest youth platforms.

Philip, the co-founder of the Under 25 Club, was one of the speakers at the Coca Cola Youth Speak Forum organised by AIESEC, in association with The Telegraph on Friday.

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The AIESEC is an international non-profit that bills itself as the world’s largest youth-run organisation with presence in 113 countries and 23 cities across India.

It was originally an acronym for Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales.

AIESEC is no longer used as an acronym but simply as the name of the organisation.

“For the first time ever we need to celebrate confusion. It is completely okay to not know what you wanted to do in life. It is completely okay to try a hundred things before you find yourself. It is completely okay to take multiple options and chances in life. There is no one answer to life…,” said Philip, who founded the Bangalore-based Under 25 Club with Shreyans Jain in 2013.

Jain and Philip started working on their idea as first-year undergraduate students at Christ University in Bangalore.

The Under 25 Summit, a popular youth fest and the flagship programme of the club, has been held every year since 2014.

Elie Seidman, the CEO of Tinder, and Jaggi Vasudev, better known as Sadhguru of Isha Foundation, were some of the speakers at the 2019 edition of the summit at Bangalore earlier this year. Like any big company, a country’s real asset is its people, Philip told the audience.

India has over 630 million people, more than 50 per cent of its population, under the age of 25, twice the population of the US.

“We young Indians are the world's youngest population. The potential we have as a generation is astounding. This is why we just might be the best generation,” he said.

The Internet is the boon and bane of this generation, Philip cautioned.

“Why I think we are the most privileged generation? First time in the history of the world, there comes a generation who has the blessing of the Internet. Our great grandparents might have had pigeons and what not to get info.

“But we are not an empathetic and a kind generation. We are not a generation that is supporting each other… The need of the hour is to not be those people who are commenting on every single thing that they don't know about. Make your wars your priority if only you are passionate,” Philip told the audience at the auditorium of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Arpan Basu, the general manager and head of communications at Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, was among the speakers at the event.

Philip’s talk was followed by a panel discussion on Calcutta and its youth. Model Ushoshi Sengupta, radio jockey Jimmy Tangree and Vivek Gupta, former Rajya Sabha MP and director of Sanmarg, were among the panellists.

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