Staying in sync with youth aspirations

Indian youth, the largest youth power the world over, needs to be groomed amicably, in their own and in nation’s interest as they can become the greatest asset to the community and the country.

Owing to immense vibrancy, vigour, imagination and the verve to do, youth is the phase with highest potential. For the receptivity, the inquisitiveness and the exploratory spirit is at the peak. Not surprising, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, the icons of software revolution and Facebook, who changed the ways world speaks, interacts and lives, were very young when they ushered in revolution. “Almost everything that is great has been done by youth” said Benjamin Disraeli. Reason enough entry into civil services is for youth only. The age consideration prevailed with the Gurukuls of yore where the overall holistic development of a person was targetted through practical training in all aspects of life.

Youth: A formidable force

In this backdrop India has the opportunity to come atop along development indicators, apropos the statistics. With the country’s estimated population in 15-34 age group pegged over 64 percent as in 2020 with about 325 million people in working age group as against 16 million in US, 10 million in China, 9 million in Japan and so on, India is on way to become a formidable economic power capable of adding a hefty 2 percent annual GDP growth rate for several consecutive years as per Indian Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates. By that year India shall have surplus of 47 million people that can be considered to be deployed profitably abroad after suitable training!

However, our youngsters can make milestones only if imbued with a fire within to do and outdo. Unfortunately, such fire is seldom seen these days with an overwhelming majority of youth engrossed for most of the day in chatting, listening to earphones, and what not. Mobile telephony tends to interfere with serious goal; it can disturb the normal routine of many youngsters much to the disgruntlement of the older generation.

Dealing with E-era youth

With growing intolerance of the aging generation to adjust with the young ones and vice versa, public notifications in arithmetic progression are being witnessed in daily newspapers with some parents disowning their sons and daughters-in-law, severing links from them and legally debarring them from all their fixed and mobile assets & property. Aspersions on the young generation date back to Socratic era, if not earlier: “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents.”

It shall be unfair though to blame the youth alone when they act in irresponsible manner. Many parents are not good enough at parenting. Rather than serving as role models first before preaching, they look at their children as modality to realise their own unmet aspirationals without proper grooming and values training. They teach children just how to beat others, score best marks and somehow grab a job with high package, and hardly anything beyond that. There are reports on how a sizable number of children of non-eligible age group were helped by their parents – of course by tempering the real age – in joining Facebook!  The instances of handing over the keys of 4-wheeler to underage children to pamper them are also too many.  Then there are mafias of drug and sex trade to dissuade the susceptible youngsters from their goals.

At threshold of maturity, one does develop discretion, which sharpens when in continuous use. The youth need to understand that all the learning they imbibed through parents and teachers may not hold universal validity and may require reviewing. In Indian scriptures, there is reference to the Acharya [today’s vice chancellor of sort] advising only to take the virtues, and not the vices of the teacher.  Taking stock of the parental limitations, their declining role in parenting and the distractions informing our ambience, the youth need to develop sense of propriety and set a road for themselves. At the same time, they should consider whether virtuous parents can be far better mentors to draw upon than the values social media lays.

As for employability of youth that tends to frustrate the future of youngsters, it is imperative to create new structures for best grooming of the e-age youth. As custodians of future of mankind and recalling follies of our time, we need to adopt a conciliatory stance. For, as J.K. Rowling said, “Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.” In youth, due to heat in the blood, one is more likely to be led by illusions. Jon Krakauer said, “It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.” It is ironical that one realises the follies of young age rather belatedly. “By the time a man realises that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong,” said Charles Wadsworth. Further, the pleasures of life lie in espousing a conciliatory stand and never in confrontation. On the parents’ part of the elderly, it advisable to understand what Benjamin Disraeli said, “the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity” and actively support and contribute to the endeavours of the youth and to partake of their ethos and never meddle with the fun they often resort to.

Swami Vivekanand & the youth

Taking cognizance of the hard fact that the seeds of grand future are laid in youth, Swami Vivekanand spoke, wrote and advocated immensely about strengthening the youth force. As tribute in his memory, 12 January is celebrated as National Youth Day in our country. “Awake, arise or be forever fallen” he ever meant and stood for.

In sharp contrast to countries like Japan and China wrestling with decline in youth population, India presently faces the challenge of providing proper direction to the youth force and taking care of their interests in timely manner. They need no strictures, as John Wooden said: “Young people need models, not critics.” Unfortunately, we do not have adequate capacity building and skill upgrading facilities to arm a million additional youths joining labour market every month with appropriate skills; some projects though have been currently introduced in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These need to to be viewed for replication.

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First published in Deccan Herald, 14 August 2014 with the heading, “Giving Direction to Youth Force”.

Link: https://www.deccanherald.com/content/425483/giving-direction-youth-force.html

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