Nation’s strength lies in its youth

Dar Tariq
As per the census 2011, the youth (15-24) constitute one fifth of India’s total population. India is expected to have 34.33% share of youth population by 2020. Conventionally, period from adolescence to middle age is termed as youth. The youth of nation are trustees of prosperity. Youth force is dynamic in nature as most skills and orientations are acquired in this age. Youth is a huge reservoir of energy which needs to be tapped and harnessed intelligently for development of society. Presently, India has the largest share of youth population in the world and will continue to hold so for next 20 years. The present challenge is to increase the human resource potential and to appropriately use to make it the driving force of economy of country. Youth is the most valuable section of population. Human resource potential not only gain maximum but also reaches its peak during this period. Youth in reality represent the present country. Young ones when nourished properly can grow like a huge redwood tree but if not controlled or neglected can erupt like a volcano. No country can afford to ignore its youth. Youth shows strong passion, motivation and will power hence makes them important for fostering, economic and cultural development of nation. A country’s ability is determined by the size of its young population. The energy and passion of youth if utilized properly can bring huge positive change to the society and progress to the nation. This section of population needs to be harnessed, motivated, skilled and streamlined properly to bring rapid progress for a country. However there are many challenges and issues concerning the youth, there are number of challenges lying before the young generation. However, I will discuss only two major issues:
Education and unemployment. Let’s first talk of education; education is the central to development and to improvement of the lives of young people globally.
Youth are major seekers of employment as they traverse their journey of life from adolescence to adulthood. Very few of them join the family business, but major section becomes the first time job seekers and searches for economic opportunities.
Education is important in eradicating poverty and hunger and in promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth. Knowledge and education are key factors to the full and effective participation of youth in development. Increased attention and increasing participation of youth, particularly
marginalized youth, are needed to ensure that they acquire the knowledge, capacities, skills and ethical values which in turn are needed to fulfill their role as agents of development, social inclusion, tolerance and peace. We should also try to minimize the gender gap that hinders development and result in high dropout rate amongst school aged girls. On the other hand unemployment remains the second most common issue as well as challenge for youth in India whose present economic slowdown has disrupted the labour force participation rate as well.
Youth are major seekers of employment as they traverse their journey of life from adolescence to adulthood. Very few of them join the family business, but major section becomes the first time job seekers and searches for economic opportunities. The global youth employment rate is 13.0 % from 2012-2014. Overall 2 in 5 (42.6 %) economically active youth are still either unemployed or working yet living in poverty. Policy makers should try to address the increasing unemployment rate which may otherwise lead to starvation, migration, criminal activities, suicidal tendencies, mental disorders etc.
Policy interventions for youth in India: Various youth development programs should be under taken by union government like National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and many others. Government should try to widen the platform of opportunities for youth so that their potential is utilized in a proper way or is fully engaged. Apart from all these initiatives, the policy makers should focus more on health, sports, youth engagement, inclusion, social justice.
( The author is a student at AMU Aligarah. Views are his own, [email protected])