Should Concern All
Friends,
I believe that young minds are like plain canvases; they are all the same, it is just the colors or the direction that makes them different from each other. Sometimes, all that is required for our society is the take of fresh, young minds to intervene in the political and economic setups to work brilliantly.
Substantially, the political system in India is dominated and led by people whose age average is close to 60 years. Of course, experience and wisdom play a major role in giving structure to a political setup but so does the breaking in of young, passionate individuals to give a fresh perspective to politics.
Let me enlighten you with the potential that our country has to evolve into a global superpower in the coming years. India is the youngest country in the world boasting 1/3rd of its population being below the age of 24 years. This card in the deck of our country has to be the strongest for I believe that youth can be highly instrumental in transforming the nation for the good. The zeal of the youth to bring a change and voting for their desired governance was illustrated in the 2014 General Elections where close to 10 crores of young, first-time voters ushered to cast their vote. The instance displayed the unwavering enthusiasm of the youth to help the nation thrive into a nation that stands tall with its solid governance.
While we celebrate the enormous potential that our nation has to boast, we still have a long way to tap into our potential fully. We have to compensate for the damage that has been done in the past, realizing that it is very possible to rise out of it gloriously using the fiery spirits of our youth.
Let me introduce you to some of the core setbacks that our nation encounters even after 60 years of independence. More than 1/5th of India lives in acute poverty despite several programs that have taken place over the years. India is home to 1/3rd of the world’s malnourished children. In India, every fourth person is illiterate and according to a UNESCO report, close to 264 million people do not have access to education in India. Despite having equal or more populational strength with us, we are far behind global superpowers like the USA, China, and Australia in sports. Our infrastructure sees a new low where we do not have access to basic amenities like clean water, sanitation, housing, etc. These are the areas that we could potentially work upon using the passion and the enthusiasm of the youth.
Our trump card is that our youth knows the ground reality of the underlying issues with the economy and they could contribute to the development of our system in a more effective manner. As much as these issues are dealt with subjectively in our daily lives, I think that adopting a fresh and clear perspective is important to bring changes for the good.
I believe that our youth is more than capable to contribute to the development of our nation and it is high time that we equip them with the right skills and guidance to do so. I also feel that demanding youth empowerment is not enough, we need to start investing in our youth and also encouraging them to start working towards the progress and development of the nation. A lot of changes take place because of the accountability and responsibility taken by individuals and it is about time that we ingrain this into the minds and hearts of our youth.
John F. Kennedy once famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. It is time to take this phrase to heart.
If we look close enough, we can learn a lot from our honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, who started his career very early on in his life. He became a part of the RSS in the early 1970s and later joined BJP in 1987. After a year he became the General Secretary of the Gujarat wing and eventually, taking up multiple significant positions in the party, happened to become the Prime Minister in 2014. It was his unwavering will to do something for the nation that evolved him into the personality that everybody looks up to. Similarly, I believe that every young individual who is driven to create a change in society should start developing foundational strength to gather as much experience as they could in their formative years.
My advice to my young friends is just that as people who understand problems in a more personal manner, we should understand the pressing concerns and develop alternatives to resolve them. We need to identify the alarming concerns of the economy and coherently emerge with solutions.
In order to move progressively towards the future, we need to make up for the lacking in our economical structure in fields of education, infrastructure, healthcare, sports, entrepreneurship, tourism, etc. We, as the new generation should embark upon this journey of fixing the deviations and getting to the root of these concerns. We have to build upon core values like honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability, and compassion to help the nation grow and develop. The foundation to great leadership is also a fair amount of responsibility and that should be deep-seated in us, as a youth.
Coming from a political party that aggressively encourages youth to step forward and join our hands in the development of the nation, I will be more than happy to become a part of or support initiatives that are taken by the youth to set our nation on its trajectory towards the multi-faceted development.
This is the first time that India has seen the youth coming together to develop the nation in such an amount. This is the opportunity that we have been wishing for and it is here now and it is time that we make the most of what we are blessed with. I invite every young mind out there to join us and contribute to the skyrocketing growth of the nation.
Warm Regards
(Dhananjai Singh Khimsar)