Tapping the potential of Indian Youth for nation building

India is said to be enjoying population dividends. Is it real? Are we utilizing the potentials of our youth optimally? In fact, today tapping the potentials of our youth is an important challenge facing the country.

No doubt, the youth in India is bulging. The present youth shares some unique characteristics like relatively better education, better connection within and outside the country, internet connectivity and wider social networking. Further, they are clear about what they want to be.

Concerns of Today’s Indian Youth:

1. Education: The rapid growth in the number of Educational Institutions is not uniform across the length and breadth of the country and is not equally accessible to all the sections of the society. The youth are demanding skill-based and career-oriented education.

2. Job: After completion of the course the youth struggles to get good jobs in formal sector in the growing competitive world. The lucky ones who get the job are under-employed, under-paid and have to bear longer duration of work.

3. Corruption: youth desires to lead an honest and ideal life. After seeing wide-spread corruption at various levels the youth are frustrated and massively supported the movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare.

4. Values: In the past, age-old ethical values played a crucial role in the life of people of India. Wealthy people considered that the wealth possessed by them as wealth of the society and that they were mere trustee of the wealth of the society. Due to the influence of western civilization and too much commercialization there is erosion in Indian value system. Exhibition of wealth by persons who become rich overnight sends wrong signals to youth.

What are our Educated Youth Doing?

After coming out of educational institutions, the youth struggle to secure a good job. They start preparing for competitive exams conducted by various recruitment authorities. For many preparing for competitive exams has become a full-time job which is costly both in terms of time and finance. A section of youth to get better salary prepares themselves for jobs in advanced countries. Lucky ones get good job.

Many persons migrate to advanced countries on the pretext of higher education only to hunt for job. Migration of youth has both short-run and long-run impact on the originating countries. In the short-run, parents of the children pay high tuition fee which is in a way capital drain from the originating countries. In the long-run, when the educated youth stay back and work in the host countries it will be a brain drain. The insensitive political leaders, complacent administrators, parents and youth are jointly responsible for the tragedy.

What our semi-skilled youth with low level of education doing? There are a good number of persons in towns and metropolitan cities who manage to complete matriculation and acquire skills like car driving. With a dream of making fast bucks they migrate to foreign countries. Some youth, especially in border areas, who stay back and earn limited income are likely get addicted to drugs.

What are our uneducated Youth Doing?

Sizeable rural youth move to urban area and with meager earnings lead a miserable life, mostly in slum area without any basic facilities. Some youth with some ambition are likely to fall prey to smugglers and traffickers, who promise them to provide job with decent income and comfortable living conditions. The problem of migrant labour is aggravated due to poor working conditions and insecurity. Confiscation of passport, unlawful deduction from wages and additional hours of work make the lives of migrant labour miserable.

Can we stop this movement? If yes, how can we stop?

Solution: Youth have played an important role in the development of every advanced nation. Therefore, it is our prime duty to channelize boundless energy of our youth for nation-building activities. Compulsory military training to our youth for a couple of years will make them more disciplined which is essential for all types of jobs. We have to impart some communication skills, a good knowledge of English and some spiritual input. To fight the menace of drug addiction there is a need for opening more de-addiction centres and intensification of drug de-addiction drive.

Youth must be encouraged in all possible manners to start their own business. They should become entrepreneur that is job-providers and not mere job-seekers. India has a great opportunity to meet worldwide demand for work force. It can become an international out-sourcing hub for skilled manpower.

After adequate experience in foreign countries they must be motivated to come back to India and contribute their might in nation building activities. They need not permanently remain in India. If they so desire they must be encouraged to go abroad only to come back to serve the country with richer experience.

To prevent uneducated youth falling prey to unscrupulous agents our Government must keep track of persons receiving visa permits and our embassies abroad must monitor the movement of Indian immigrants by keeping regular contact with them. These measures are likely to fetch real demographic dividends instead of ending up with demographic disaster.

By S Indrakant

RBI Chair Professor, Council for Social Development in Hyderabad.