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SHE was among a handful of invitees from Jamaica to have flown to elaborate India in late November to participate in the celebration of that country's 75th anniversary of independence.Instructive it was that first-time Manchester Central Member of Parliament Rhoda Moy Crawford took back with her, apart from personal luggage, a list of ideas that she believes could be used on the road to Jamaica's overall development, starting with how the populous nation of approximately 1.38 billion inhabitants manages its COVID-19 programme.The Gen-Next Democracy Programme, which had delegates from 75 democratic countries, was designed for young people - all under 35 - to learn, share experiences, and transfer information that could result in positives for their lands. It was also aimed at strengthening the relationship between India and the participating countries, and allowing delegates to see India first hand.In Jamaica's case, Crawford, speaking with the Jamaica Observer last Tuesday, thinks that India's guiding hand in the management of the pandemic was a good lesson for this Caribbean island to grasp."One of the things I love was their vaccination drive. All hands were truly on deck," the 33-year-old parliamentarian said. "You have Government singing one song, the Opposition singing the same song, you have the different religious groups singing the same song, civil society too, so it's one message - 'you need to get vaccinated to get back to life'."That is something I would love to see here to help with the vaccine hesitancy. In Jamaica, people rely on their political or religious leaders. So when we have different persons singing a different message, it contributes to our hesitancy. In India's poorer communities too, vaccines are taken there," stated the woman who visited the country's capital Delhi, and popular state Gujarat.Continuing, she said that the other thing that stood out was that she "saw that India had real democracy at work - tolerance and respect, people are not discriminated against. Here in Jamaica things get nasty, and you often see it on social media."The minute we got to India we were recognised. Once you said Jamaica, people loved us, and wanted to be associated with us. I did a press conference and television interview and the host wanted to find out how it is that a country of less than three million people has so much global influence. I told him that despite our challenges, and socialisiation, we are cultured to be determined; to persevere and have the desire to do the best and be the best at whatever we are doing."When you hear Jamaica articulated on the international stage.... I hope we would just pause to think what that means. Rather than blame government, opposition, church, school, civil society, if all of us as individuals could realise how powerful our brand is and commit to truly putting our country first and making a difference."Whichever state we went, the people were very respectful. They demonstrated good manners. They were very hospitable and welcoming. It helped to clear up some of the misconceptions I had. Positives were proven to be true, and negatives cleared up," Crawford said.Highlighting that in India, women were prolific in the leadership of all categories of life, the relatively fresh MP said that she has taken back precious memories that can be used as messages to the people whom she represents and help with her personal development."Something stuck with me in terms of what one of the ministers said: 'It's doesn't matter if you are male or female, your age, how many terms you have served, each term is a fresh term, because at the start of each term you have to face the electorate. When you are elected, you have to remember that your first obligation or duty, should always be to represent the interest of the constituency'".According to Crawford, sessions dealt with, among other things, the role of women in politics, background into India's democracy, and use of technology. Participants also visited the Indian Parliament, met with senior ministers, senior MPs, young MPs, tribal leaders, village leaders and went to several historic sites like the Taj Mahal in the city of Agra, built between 1632 and 1653; the statue of unity, which is the largest such structure in the world, standing at 182 metres; India's space centre, Ghandi's museum, and the diary-based AMUL Corporation."It was a packed schedule, full activities from morning till night," Crawford expressed.