There has never been a better time to be a young person, former US President Barack Obama said Friday at his foundation's town hall in New Delhi, as hundreds of young Indian leaders hung on to his every word.
"If you think about it, if you had to choose a moment in history in which you could be born, and you didn't know ahead of time who you were going to be...you didn't know what your status would be, you didn't know whether you were going to be male, female, Indian or American...gay, straight...rich or poor, what caste you might be a member of, what religion..you're just a human, and you had to choose when to be born, you'd choose now," Obama said.
"There have never been more powerful and more accessible tools for each of you to make a difference than there are today," he said.
Obama listed issues he wanted to devote the rest of his career to: climate change and gender equality were among them. But the single most important thing that he wanted to focus on was "lifting up and identifying and working with - and training - the next generation of leadership, not just in the United States but all around the world" he said.
And he explained why he was interested in India in particular.
"You've got the largest population of young people in the world. And that's a lot, so we might as well start big," he said.
Young leaders listen to former US President Barack Obama at his foundation's townhall in New Delhi. (Screenshot of live video courtesy: www.obama.org)
Young leaders listen to former US President Barack Obama at his foundation's townhall in New Delhi. (Screenshot of live video courtesy: www.obama.org)
Barack Obama during a question and asnwer session at the townhall ((Screenshot of live video courtesy: www.obama.org)
Barack Obama during a question and asnwer session at the townhall ((Screenshot of live video courtesy: www.obama.org)
"We've already identified some remarkable young leaders, who're doing extraordinary things here in India: authors, athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, civic leaders from all across the country...we've got activists who're working on everything from education to gender equality to climate change."
He even named some young Indian leaders - including Trisha Shetty, the founder of SheSays, an organisation "aimed an educating and empowering men and women to take action against sexual abuse," and Sanchana Krishnan, "who works with communities to destigmatise mental health issues through the power of personal story telling."
"I believe that the partnership between the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy could be a defining partnership in the 21st century. I also believe that charting the course for that better future is going to depend on all of you," Obama told his audience.