WATCH | Jaishankar "Jawani" reply to life as "bureaucrat vs minister" leaves NIT Delhi students in splits

New Delhi, July 04: Interacting with the students of NIT Delhi, external affairs minister Dr. S Jaishankar on Monday responded to which life he liked the most – of a bureaucrat or a minister.

 

His interaction with NIT Delhi students comes as a part of the BJP's mega public outreach to mark nine years of the Narendra Modi government.

 

During the interaction with students, there was a light-hearted moment when a student asked Jaishankar, who has also served as a career diplomat, which life he liked the most – of a bureaucrat or a minister.

 

“Sab ko jawani achhi lagti hai (Everyone likes the youthfulness),” the minister quipped, evoking laughter in the room.

 

"I will take your question seriously," he immediately followed up, while the man who asked the question told him he would set his goals according to the answer as he "follows" him.

 

I would say in life most of us don't to where to start. In my early 20s, if somebody asked me to forget being a minister or even being a diplomat, it was not something so obvious (for me to become). Sometimes, when you try things, you succeed in some and you don't succeed in some. I also did not pass exams before getting through Foreign Services. Had I passed those exams, I would have been somewhere else. So, life is trial and error, so you have to find what is it you want do to. But, I would like to give one piece of advice after so many years. Do what you like doing. If you like something, you will be good at it. Then you will not even think of it as work."

 

 

Further, Jaishankar said no country can progress without embracing technology and research and development. He also advised the students to understand local and global developments.

 

"Globalisation has broken down the boundaries between inside and outside and you should understand what is happening around you," he said citing the impacts of the Covid pandemic and Ukraine war on the prices of petroleum products and food grains.

 

The external affairs minister asserted that several changes have taken place in the last nine years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

Citing Modi's recent visit to the US, Jaishankar said, "He has a different image, especially in the democratic world as a senior experienced and credible leader."

 

The ideas and decisions of Modi have an impact, he said. "In his foreign visits, PM Modi represents the strength and talent of 149 crore Indians. The world is now looking towards India and its youth," Jaishankar said.

 

The external affairs minister also highlighted the Modi government's initiatives to make India a hub of semiconductor manufacturing and set up a national research foundation.