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By Neha Raghunath

Last Updated at 6pm, Feb 15, 2008

Chennai: The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will host the fourth Yi (Young Indians) National Summit on Feb. 15 and 16 in Chennai. This year’s theme is “Wake up India,” with a special focus on climate change and its risks which could derail India’s economic progress.

The summit has been held from the past four years in different cities of the country with themes relevant to the country’s youth. According to the CII Chennai representative D. Thulasiraj, the youth wing is an independent subsidiary of the organization. The aim of Yi is to bring people together from across the country in the age group of 25-40 to play an active role in nation-building. Unlike CII, Yi has specific areas of interest such as education, environment, economy and healthcare.

Thulasiraj emphasized that his organization is unlike the Rotaract clubs. “We are not doing only social work, but are also involved in business activities, and try to make our members better individuals,” he said. Hence members visit companies, and learn more about their functioning by interacting with the officials. Yi encourages the members to come up with innovative ideas to do something for the society’s benefit.

When it comes to membership, Yi does not have any fixed criteria except the age group of 25-40. The unit engages students from schools and colleges, thus forming ‘nets’ in each place. As members of the net, they pay a yearly amount of Rs 50, which is increased to Rs 3000 once they turn 25 years old.

Thulasiraj also said that being a CII subsidiary, Yi was never short of funds thanks to the corporate donations. CII also enabled easy access for Yi to young entrepreneurs and top business people.

The speakers at the summit this year include Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer ICICI Bank Limited, K. V. Kamath and Nobel laureate, Dr. R. K. Pachauri.

E-mail: raghunathneha@gmail.com