Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the “Champions of Change” , a theme presented by a member of local chapter of Young Indians, as an effort to bring together diverse strengths for the benefit of the nation and society.

Modi has also said that the initiative would be taken forward and institutionalised in the best possible way by associating the participant groups with respective Departments and Ministries in the Union Government, a Young Indian release said today.

Executive Committee Member of local chapter of Young Indians Dr. Aishwarya Arjun made a presentation before the Prime Minister, as part of Champions of Change, an initiative of NITI Aayog, where Modi interacted with select Young Entrepreneurs from across the country, representing various sectors at Pravasi Bharatia Kendra.

Aishwarya presented on the theme ‘Cities of Tomorrow’, in which smart urbanisation, public transport and mobility, developing growth clusters, city governance and sustainable urban planning were some of the factors discussed with an objective to achieve growth and uplift the quality of life of the citizens.

Aishwarya and her team worked on the concept ‘Nagara Nakshatr: Constellation of Cities – A Model to Develop Inclusive Social Capital’.

The model emphasises the need to make available basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, sanitation, health, education and mobility and envisages a common template for all ‘nagaras’ where resource allocation is target based.

It ultimately helps evolve a framework of inter-dependent cities leading to a network of people that develop social capital, which is the network of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively.

“We can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, we have to build a new model that makes the existing model better,” Aishwarya said.

“The idea is to promote inter-dependent cities where there is an emphasis on seamless and mass movement of people, products and produce.

By networking cities with peri-urban areas the stress on the city is reduced and it helps develop a sustainable model,” Aishwarya said.