Jyotiraditya Scindia's "One Advice" To Overcoming Life's Challenges

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has spoken up about the "challenges" he faced in life and about critical lessons learnt during his time at Harvard University.

"I have always tried to embrace challenges," he said in NDTV Yuva Conclave on Wednesday. "If I am here to give you any advice, I will give you just one - always step out of your comfort zone. The environment where you feel comfortable, the job where you feel settled - your exponential growth will happen only when you step out of your comfort zone."

Reflecting on his time at Harvard, he recalled how his parents were initially hesitant about him studying abroad, fearing the challenges he might face. "My father and mother were not very keen on me going abroad. They feared I might struggle or feel distant from home. I had a curiosity within me, but I was also scared-it was a different country. Though I had been in a boarding school before, this was even farther away. I applied on my own, and I was fortunate to get into one of the world's best institutions."

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Mr Scindia pointed out that in India, students memorised textbooks for marks, while abroad, professors focused on students' analysis and thoughts. Recalling an eye-opening moment in his first International Relations class, he said, "We had to write a paper on the Congo Crisis. I did what we usually do in India - I took four primary sources, opened all four books, picked one paragraph from each, and compiled what I thought was an excellent paper. I submitted it confidently."

"After the class, my professor, Akhilesh Ji, asked to speak with me. I thought I had topped the class. Everyone left, and then he said, 'Listen, I don't need to know what's written in these books. In fact, I have written one of these books myself. What I need to know is your analysis. What do you think was right or wrong? Take back your paper and rewrite it.'"

"That was the concept-not just learning what to think, but how to think," he said.

"So always stay outside your comfort zone. Try and explore things you have never explored before," Mr Scindia advised. 

Mr Scindia also described the death of his father, Madhavrao Scindia, as the most transformative challenge of his life. "For me, it was a very challenging time-fulfilling his hopes and aspirations, walking on a new path. Public service was new to me. I was an economist by training and an investment banker. But now, I had to step into public service. I had experience with him, as I had been involved in his campaigns since the age of 13 or 14. But that was just an episode-my entire way of life changed."

He recalled a piece of advice his father always gave him: "Politics should never be the ultimate goal."

At the event, Mr Scindia also spoke of the crucial role of young Indians in building a developed India (Viksit Bharat). "Flip through history, and you'll see-every major shift, revolution, or innovation, whether thousands of years ago or in today's digital world, was driven by the youth," he said.

With 70 per cent of India's population under 35, he called it the country's "demographic and democratic dividend." "We're talking about nearly 90 crore people - three times the US population and twice the combined population of Eastern and Western Europe," he noted.

Highlighting India's booming startup ecosystem, he said, "Earlier, we had only a handful of startups. Today, we have nearly 1.75 lakh startups and over 100 unicorns."

Mr Scindia also spoke of key government initiatives to empower India's youth. He spoke about the PM Internship Programme, which connects young professionals with the top 500 companies, with 8,000 enrollments this year and a Rs 2,000 crore budget. He emphasized a Rs 6,000 crore investment in Research & Development to give universities access to global research, helping India move from a "services nation" to a "product nation."

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "we are transitioning from Amrit Kaal to Shatabdi Kaal - from a developing nation to a developed India, from a dependent India to a self-reliant India. This is our vision, and this is our commitment," he said.