Youth represents the Modern India, young mindsets, young visions and new perceptions. According to the Census 2001; Youth composites the 41.05% of the total population of India that includes the young people under the age group of 16-25years. The youth of India has undoubtedly a great potential that if utilized in a good manner, can make the future of the country brighter. Young people of the country have an advanced way of perceiving and conceiving their lives. They are open-minded, flexible, adaptable and inventive. They want to learn and lead. And the youth of India has certainly those qualities of leadership. They have the caliber to portray a magnificent picture of India among the other countries of the world and specifically they have that broad vision to manifest the best kind of working and organizing the things.
With this fact; a need for youth empowerment rises up. To empower something means to delegate the power or authority for a specific purpose and here in regard of youth empowerment we are basically talking about giving a power to the Indian youth to bring a change at large. The Indian youth of today deliberately needs to be empowered, their own power and potential needed to be utilized in an accurate way. Youth needs to be given authority, a platform, a structure where they can possibly input their caliber. Their contribution towards the infrastructure of the country, politics, education, employment, sports; technology, globalization and industrialization need to be empowered. The irony and the loophole of the present time and the present system of the country is that, the strengths and the merits of youth are not utilized and explored. Young people are unemployed, illiterate, idle, inactive, exploited and sometimes misguided. A major part of the youth is unprivileged and deprived of opportunities, chances, conditions, facilities and rights. Hence the right kind of power and authority need to be given to them if the country truly wants their potential not being wasted at all. They need to be uplifted and integrated for a better functioning of the country. Therefore, following are the few suggestions through which, the hidden power and potential of the Indian youth can be realized and better utilized:
FREE EDUCATION FOR THE UNPRIVILEGED YOUTH: Education is a universal and indispensable need for a proper growth of a human personality. It makes a person wise and foresighted. And only an educated individual can lay down a strong foundation of growth for the country. The youth that belongs to the sound families have no problem to avail the facilities and moreover a good education, but the unprivileged youth is surely lacking behind in availing the same. There are deprived children (5-16years) who cannot afford to go to school, they are poor, deprived and education has no significant role to play in their lives. But if the government also would not pay any attention towards the education of such unprivileged children then this would obviously increase the gap between literate and illiterate youth in the country. And due to this lack of education and other facilities child labor and child prostitution is increasing in Indian society.
Hence, the government of India should organize free education programs for such children especially in those areas where the deprived youth is much expected (like slums, villages, undeveloped and remote areas). The agenda of ‘Education for all’ can only be realized when all the groups of younger people would be included in the implementation stage and when it is not only concentrated on a particular group. Deprived children should be treated liberally and in this task many NGO’s, schools and colleges can volunteer for making them educated. Students and teachers should happily volunteer in giving free education to those children. The government should raise more funds for those non-profit organizations who can organize free educational camps and programs.
SPREADING NATIONALISM AND AWARENESS AMONG THE YOUTH: Today the most critical situation that India is facing is the lack of Nationalism among the people. People are not aware and integrated. Their interests, aspirations and merits are self-centralized and individualistic. There is a feeling of competition, jealousy and bullying, particularly among the young educated people. Every next young person who is established and successful does not want to stay in India rather wishes to go out the country to get settled for his further growth. They see good opportunities in other countries and not in India. But if every person would think like this then who is going to lead the country at large and who is going to work for the welfare of the country? Hence the young people of the India need to be guided and encouraged to change their mentality and perspectives. Their self-centeredness should be replaced by the feeling of brotherhood, cooperation and unity. The great thinkers, motivational speakers and philosophers can play an important role in conceiving this task. Young people need to explore and realize the greatness of their own culture and country. Once they begin to feel their responsibility towards the welfare of their country they can easily utilize their potential and strengths in the way of improvement.
FORMATION OF A YOUTH COMMITTEE TO INCREASE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION: Direct participation of youth is must condition in the major projects of the welfare of the country. There should be forming a committee or a group that comprised of young minds (people) selected from all the states of India and who might belong to different fields and areas of specialization. Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs should choose the respective members of this committee without any biases. These members would represent their respective states but would be working for a common cause. Each of the members would work as a representative of Indian youth and would create a harmonious atmosphere where other members can share their thoughts. This committee would be formed with a purpose to give a voice to the Indian youth. The committee would be sharing thoughts over how to empower the youth in a better way, rectify the loopholes in the infrastructure and to make a better utilization of resources and opportunities.
TALENTS BESIDES THE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: There is no scarcity of talent in India. But there are also not sufficient opportunities available for the talented people and in fact some of them are not properly channeled. There are so many of young talented Indian youth who do not get any platform to convey their talents. Some are good in art and culture then some are good at sports and entertainment. Talent is not limited only to sports and art, it may vary in many forms. Besides education the talent of the youngster should also be praised and encouraged. Every school and college should concentrate over these subtle areas of children. A young mind is limitless it just needs the right person to respect its uniqueness. Hence, the people of the country should get rid of the mentality that only scholars can make the country proud, there are many ways the young people can make India proud. There should be provisions of scholarships in schools, colleges and postgraduate levels for different talents in youngsters. These efforts would also motivate the youth to make a better use of their talents for the improvement of the country.
PROVIDING BETTER JOBS AND CAREER OPTIONS: Indian youth faces this problem most often that it is unemployed, under-employed and not well organized. There are well educated youth, but they do not have the opportunities. Somehow they have to work for their livelihoods which results in making them work in less privileged conditions. They feel disheartened and jammed. They were not given right counselling at the time of choosing the best career options for themselves and as a result, they choose an inappropriate career option. The government should first of all provide good counselling sessions that help the youngsters to choose among the different career options according to their caliber and mind. Then once they choose the right option, there should be enough opportunities available for them to pursue their choices. Here urbanization also plays an important role. If the city is urbanized it would surely possess advanced opportunities for the youth and this will reduce their labor and time to avail the facilities. Government should keep a check over the number of unemployed and jobless people. Modifications in the education system, infrastructure and opportunities should be made to make each and every person employed according to his/her potential.
India as a system needs some drastic modifications. Youth is the future of India and it has the power to create a better Present as well. All it needs is the realization of their potential and strengths. Presently they are under-estimated and unrealized. However old generation has a vast experience but there should always be a possibility of change and modifications in any system. This is a pathway transaction where one has to delegate the authority and other has to understand the importance of their responsibility. Empowering the youth is in a way empowering the country.
I am flattered by the skills of the person who has written this! This blog has helped me a lot in my oral speech on ‘Youth Empowerment’. Thank you so much and i look forward to read such blogs on this website! Hats off people!