Be Heard in Australia 2017

My speech at the grand finale of this public speaking competition organised by the Indo Australian Association. I was placed fifth out of around 500+ participants.

39,000 gallons of water to make a car!

1800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make a pair of blue jeans!

3000 gallons for one pound of chocolates!

900 gallons for a pound of cheese!

While only less than 100 gallons of water each for a pound of lettuce, tomatoes,

cabbage and cucumber.

Hello everybody.

We all want to buy our dream cars one day, and look cool in a pair of jeans all

the time. Imagine living on lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage and cucumber.

Impossible! We definitely need that extra cheese topping on our pizzas

don’t we?

Besides the food we eat, every product that we use has an alarming requirement

of water. Statistics reveal that 47% of the world’s population will be living in

areas of high water scarcity by 2030 if the current trends continue.

So what do we do?

We in India seem to be basking in the glory of living in a land of fertile soil,

rivers and mountain ranges that help to bring in rain. But climate change,

floods, droughts, poor maintenance of irrigation systems, improper disposal of

domestic and industrial wastes are some of the reasons for our water scarcity.

On the other hand Australia is the highest user of water per person in the world,

despite being the driest inhabited continent. This makes the effective

management of the water supply for agricultural, domestic and industrial use

even more important in Australia, than in many other countries.

It is only the water in the Indian Ocean that physically separates Australia and

India, but now let water be the reason to bring us together as “great partners

for growth”.

The aged population of Australia is expected to increase by around 250% over

the next 40 years, with about 3.5 million people expected to use aged care

services by the year 2050. Interestingly in the same year 2050 the number of

elderly citizens in India will reach 323 million, a hundred times more than

Australia. These statistics highlight the diverse challenges faced by both

countries in caring for the aged, and the need to address them in a unified

manner.

The Australian Government has a well structured system that is already

functioning for the welfare of the aged population. Though a large sector of the

elderly population in India have family support, the country needs to take

better care of the aged destitute, who had also contributed to the development

of our nation during their prime time. I recently noticed a warning sign that

read: “Retired person on premise…Knows everything and has plenty of time to

tell it” …A warning sign? Jokes apart both India and Australia must partner and

digitally archive the wisdom of our aged society for the progressive growth of

the generations to come.

But when it comes to children and primary education, the Indian model is

certainly noteworthy. Of fifteen lakh schools in India, the primary category has

the highest stake of around 55% at about 200 million, with a steady increase in

the enrolment percentage of the girl child. Above all, education in India is

known worldwide in ancient history for its proficiency in the field of science

and mathematics. Australia focussed more on Skill for education and

employment rather than on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

popularly referred to as STEM. Ironically it is only recently that India has

initiated the Skill India drive while Australia concentrates now in promoting

STEM . Australia and India can partner and ‘stem out skills’ needed to solve

global challenges together.

One skill for which India has achieved global recognition, is in Information

Technology. Even as our Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on the

ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme cyber security remains an area of concern.

He said that, we need an army of students and IT professionals to secure India

in cyber space and to be prepared for cyber wars. Simultaneously The Hon

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that 2017 is a turning point for

cyber security in Australia.

So friends, let’s build an Indo-Australian Digital Partnership

- Bring the wisdom of our aged together

- Bring the young innovative minds together

- Build appropriate technologies for environmental sustenance and growth

Ladies and Gentlemen

With Down Under India’s got The Thunder!!!!

Thank you