REV. FR. JOSEPH KULANDAI, SJ

Vice Principal,
Department of Commerce (Morning),

St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata

The world that encircles us is filled with complexities. It transforms and accelerates, and with each progression, it creates impediments to confront. At every step of life, it challenges us to prove our mettle and establish dominion. It tests our allegiance and makes us question our existence. Where determination seizes, hope comes to rescue. It acts as an impetus to move forward and forge a legacy. However, despite all the changes that we go through, it is imperative for us to pause and think about our decisions, their consequences and the final verdict. When all of this comes to an end, we must seek deliverance; for it liberates and immortalizes us.

St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata has always been an epitome of knowledge and wisdom and is a home to the brightest minds of the country. As a premier institute, it aspires for excellence from its students and motivates them to think beyond the limits of human capacity and establish a mark for themselves in this world. We are committed to the holistic development of our students and have always sought to provide them with a platform to showcase their skills and confer them with opportunities to hone their art. With this aim, the Xavier's Commerce Society is dedicated to encouraging students to pursue knowledge outside of the classroom, as evidenced by initiatives like Youthink that embody the true spirit of research. Youthink acts as a forum to connect experts and young students, covering a vast spectrum of topics including finance, entrepreneurship, global affairs, economy, policy and industry.

I would like to congratulate the Youthink Editorial Board for elucidating a theme that resonates perfectly with today’s world and evoking a sense of retrospection within us all. Youthink envisions to inspire and instil a sense of innovation to transcend the fringes that confine us, to augment our calibre and assist us in emerging victorious. I would like to express my appreciation for all the professors and guests, who through their profound analysis, have enlightened the young minds.

The launch of the seventeenth edition of Youthink is the attestation of the resilience and allegiance of the students of the Xavier’s Commerce Society, who have always aspired for eminence and have outlived our expectations. They have continued to prevail over all predicaments with their perseverance, dedication and persistence.

I wish Youthink Volume XVII the very best as it strives to evoke the inner conscience of the students to introspect, contemplate and seek ideas beyond their purview, to rise above the horizon. I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the Xavier’s Commerce Society on releasing a publication that embodies the virtues and tradition of the Department of Commerce of St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata, as well as the very heritage of a Xaverian.

May God bless you!

REV. FR. PETER AROCKIAM, SJ

Vice Principal,

Department of Commerce (Evening),

St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata

The sacred path to consciousness and the mastery of your own truth is an enigma of the extraordinaire - the philosophy of all existence. The eternal search for wisdom and the understanding that knowledge in itself is unlimited illuminates the mind like no other, and brings forth boundless opportunities to create and conquer. This sacrosanct journey to pursue the inevitable bears witness to the tenacity of the will and the potential of cultured wisdom. A sequel to both, Youthink breaks the bondage of nescience and perfectly encapsulates the very essence of knowledge by providing the most opportune platform to authors to discover uncharted territories.

The Xavier's Commerce Society exceeds all expectations as they venture beyond and defy the ordinary. With unmatched discipline and peerless dedication, their consistent efforts to give unparalleled experiences to the students of St. Xavier’s College has led to the creation of a holistic environment of supreme excellence that inspires ambition at every turn. Their vision is to provide the students with an empowering opportunity to experience and express their unique perspective of the world and sow the seeds of innovation in the minds of the readers. The journal is a symbol of knowledge that seeks to transform the perception of your reality, and through the power of information, give a more creative outlook towards the problems of society today.

The seventeenth edition of Youthink, ‘Deliverance’ is the true descendant of ‘Reckoning’ and fulfills its destiny to uphold the legacy that it has been blessed with over the years. This volume gives us the wisdom of what the bright minds of the Department of Commerce can do at their very best. The selection of articles in the journal nurture those on a hunt for knowledge and are a food for thought for those that demand recognition in the corporate world. No stone has been left unturned in the careful analysis of each topic. The compilation is a promising tribute to the constantly growing capacities of a Xaverian and gives us confidence in a better tomorrow. With this collection, Youthink has mapped out for us new possibilities that will change the way the pioneering perspective envisages the role of knowledge in all our lives.

As Youthink displays a unique ensemble of excellence, I am elated to see that the seventeenth edition of the annual journal sustains the values that the Xavier’s Commerce Society has been built on. With admirable interviews from luminaries and a wide range of articles, Youthink leaves a lasting impression in the minds of the readers. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has been associated with this journal. I sincerely hope that these words give you the answers you have been searching for and bring peace to your thoughts.

May all your aspirations be fruitful. God Bless you all!

DR. SUMONA GHOSH

Managing Editor

“Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.”

As we go through the motions of our daily lives, we come across a vast dimension of conceptions and notions which seek to inadvertently guide and influence our actions. These flashes of epiphanies that grip us; provide to us an infinite sense of redemption from the constricted dungeons of our mind and regressions. Humankind has always had a striking proclivity and allegiance towards the liberation of our convictions and ideas; to strive towards the new dawn heralding over the horizon with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. This legacy that we have built echoes at St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata as well. Deliverance embodies the absolution of our attitudes and outlooks from the impediments and the limits placed upon our thinking as well as expression. It reckons us to search for higher understanding and provides an impetus for continued advancement and proliferation from the extremities we lurk behind. Youthink, as a journal, also aspires with the same ideal of nailing one’s colours to the mast; assertively. The resilience so attained in this pursuit beckons us to yearn for our enrichment and inculcates within us the drive to endorse our beliefs unreservedly.

To traverse this passage towards the ultimate truth, it becomes evident for each of us to quest for deliverance in our lives; and deliver ourselves from the twilight of our prejudices, towards the light of knowledge and discernment.

Youthink has continually been a guiding light in a sea of darkness, to provide students and educators alike, a free and open stand to discuss, discourse and deliberate on a variety of issues staring down at our civilization presently, and encourages each and every one to share their story and lend their voice towards the revelation of truth. It elucidates upon crucial global developments to enkindle a desire for enlightenment amongst us all, and in this constant attempt to shape the trailblazers of tomorrow, demonstrates before the youth a myriad of opportunities to take the privilege of, and ascend towards eminence unfalteringly.

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the professors and administration, as we present Youthink Volume XVII, for their indispensable insight and unwavering dedication, which have been the driving force behind our progression year after year. I appreciate the initiative of the Joint Editors-In-Chief, Vanessa Chung and Yash Sanghvi, as well as the entire Editorial Board of the seventeenth edition for consistently leaving no stone unturned in establishing new thresholds and raising the bar to greater heights.

It is only because of the unconditional support and steady guidance of Rev. Dr. Dominic Savio, SJ, Principal, Rev. Dr. Joseph Kulandai, SJ, Vice Principal, Department of Commerce (Morning) and Rev. Dr. Peter Arockiam, SJ, Vice Principal, Department of Commerce (Evening), as well as the relentless motivation from Dr. Amitava Roy, Dean, Department of Commerce (Morning) and Dr. Soheli Ghose, Dean, Department of Commerce (Evening), that Youthink Volume XVII: Deliverance has seen the light of day.

I earnestly hope that flames of freedom surge within each of you and push you towards attaining the epitome of transcendence. With this thought in mind, I unveil before you Youthink Volume XVII: Deliverance.

JOINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

‘Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man’s faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.’

From darkness unto light, from captivity unto liberty and from ignorance unto Awakening. The progression of our world, since its very inception, has been that of a resolute trajectory towards renouncing the shackles of antiquity and embracing the awakening of a new dawn. The essence of Youthink has always been to preserve and promote individual thought as well as academic innovation, and it is with that core principle of enlightenment that we put forth such an honourable endeavour in the shape of this journal. Awakening to a better tomorrow is a foundational plinth upon which all our hopes and aspirations lay, and as weathered legends go - Elpis, the spirit of Hope remains amongst us no matter how dark the clouds seem. Youthink is that spirit of awakening and renewal that heralds that the limitations we all seek respite from as well as the light we covet is just round the corner.

With this venerable premise, the eighteenth edition of Youthink captures the steadfast curiosity and passion of the committed student authors to demonstrate the shifts in the currents of world dynamics, the nuances in the operation of economic forces, and the precarious fragility of the geopolitical environment as illustrated by the articles in the Feature section.

This year’s edition features enlightening contributions from Xaverians in the form of the Beyond, Ascent and Precis sections – consolidating critical insights from a diverse array of fields encompassing corporate affairs, marketing, international relations, finance and society to emerge as a cohesive ensemble of robust academic literature.

The Guest articles for this year seamlessly identify and encapsulate the pathbreaking discoveries and configurations in the modern atmosphere. We would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Santosh Kumari, Mr. Anish Teli, Dr. Annavajhula J.C. Bose and Prof. Somprakash Bandyopadhyay for their indispensable efforts towards Youthink Volume XVIII. The engaging Interviews sections underlines the consistent enterprise as well as exuberance of the luminaries interviewed across various disciplines. We are elated to introduce the distinguished interviews of Mrs. Alia Bhatt, Mr. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Sadhguru and Mr. Shailesh Lodha, who have all accelerated the awakening of humanity’s march towards development.

Without the ceaseless guidance of Rev. Dr. Dominic Savio, SJ, Principal, Rev. Dr. Joseph Kulandai, SJ, Vice Principal, Department of Commerce (Morning), and Rev. Dr. Peter Arockiam, SJ, Vice Principal, Department of Commerce (Evening), Youthink would not have been actualized and we take this opportunity to thank them for their support. We are thankful to Dr. Amitava Roy, Dean, Department of Commerce (Morning), and Dr. Soheli Ghose, Dean, Department of Commerce (Evening), for being a source of inspiration and encouragement.

The counsel given by our Managing Editor, Dr. Sumona Ghosh, Youthink has been unwavering and is the raison d’être for this edition coming to life with minimal impediments. We are grateful for the dedicated efforts and time devoted by the Editorial Board constituting Anshul Mitra, Kaashvi Gupta, Mansi Jain, Priyanshu Prajapati, Ved Khemka and Yashvi Ganeriwal.

Last but not the least, we appreciate the readers, contributors and students of St. Xavier's College for their invigorating support of this journal.

Life is a collection of moments; some remembered, some forgotten, some treasured forever. As we draw the curtains to this year’s edition, we are overcome with gratitude at the culmination of this bittersweet journey. It has augmented us as individuals, aided in our overall development and created everlasting memories to be cherished for life. With these doors closing, we hope and look forward to newer doors opening in the future.

Welcome to Youthink Volume XVIII: Awakening.