Between You and Me

Six hundred million people, aged twenty-five years old and younger. This is a unique phenomenon, not seen before in the world, even as every nation has unique challenges. The book is a gateway to these challenges and shares solutions to resolve them.We have many questions: Why should we get up to act only when everything is collapsing around us? Do we not know that prevention is better than cure? Then why do we go (or are taken) unprepared to the other extreme as if we are just puppets? It is time for us to not question a person, which is easy to do, but to re-evaluate the existing structures and this book exactly does that.Atul Khanna is a risk-taking, self-taught entrepreneur who is connecting people, cultures and technology, often ahead of its time. He has built enterprises in manufacturing, engineering, machine vision, life sciences and now education by building an Indian-European knowledge corridor over the years. He lives a quiet, joyous life with his family and friends in Pune, India, and travels to Europe for work.A young soul trapped in an old body. A ticking clock slower than time. Can this be the ironic destiny of 600 million bright and young Indians? Are we born free and yet trapped by our circumstances? Between You and Me is a conversation that makes the reader ponder about the much-needed transformational changes for the twenty-first century. Why should we get up to act only when we are pushed to the corner? After all, a stitch in time saves nine. Could it be that the parameters of economics, administration, democracy, and social and political constitutions were all ideated and executed for another era? Will tinkering with these institutions help or are fresh ideas needed? Encompassing an extensive discussion and analysis of what comprise our society-government, economy, education, healthcare, science, technology and so on-this book gives the reader a holistic view of India and helps in deriving solution-oriented ideas for a new societal design and structure which will ensure a thriving democracy. It presents the hope and aspiration of an ancient society that wants to break through the colonial legacy and land safely into the future. It is a gripping petition with operating models for redefining the citizen's role-from the audience to the hero-which, if implemented, would bring societal moksha of peace, power and prosperity.The governance models based on social, constitutional, economic and administrative structure were conceptualised in the nineteenth century or earlier and were executed in the twentieth century. India is our setting, but the problem is universal. This book challenges the existing structures and provokes the youth to think out of the box to combat such challenges.