Youth form the centre of gravity of all development in theworld. Right from a nuclear family to nations and from a new born child tocollege going students, it is the young ones who hold centre stage. Parentsabout to admit their children in a nursery school are as worried and stressedout as those whose children are preparing to leave college and look for jobs.Governments across the world are more bothered about education, creation ofjobs etc. than anything else; this is all the more relevant in developingdemocracies like India. The New Year is normally a time of resolutions! It isan occasion when everybody carries out an assessment of the year gone by andsets out goals for self improvement in all walks of life, be it personal orprofessional. In most resolutions of this nature the future of the youth gets asignificant place. Young people themselves are very prone to making New Yearresolutions, since they are always in a hurry to get to the next stage of theirlives. The importance of youth is further accentuated in areas experiencinginstability! It is so because of thedesire to leave for the upcoming generation a situation better that thatexperienced by the elders. It also pertains to the hope that the youth wouldbring about a change for the better.
It is against this backdrop that engagement of the youth ofKashmir takes predominance! It is a generation that wishes to grow wings andfly out but is not getting the right opportunity or the environment to do so;it is suffering due to no fault of its own.
With over 70 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir below35 years of age, chronic unemployment and under-employment has spawned problemsin the state. The deficiency of job prospects has led to too many young peopleremaining idle, leading to the old adage of “an idle mind being a devilsworkshop.” The situation is being exploited by the forces inimical to thedevelopment of the state.
The younger generation is being led, by these inimicalforces, along the wrong path where vices like drug addiction and a bias towardscounter-productive revolutionary ideas are being imbibed in them. Sadly, asegment of the youth, however small, becomes disenchanted enough to stake itsvery life on the alter of a misplaced and self-destructive ideology. Once thissegment is brought back into the mainstream everything else will automaticallyfall in place. The situation needs to be reversed and the sooner the better.
The new age Kashmiri generation is intelligent, hardworkingand forward looking, this much is obvious by the large numbers that areachieving laurels at the national level, be it in academics, sports or anyother field. Each and every youngster who is being given the opportunity seemsto be making the best of the same. There is no dearth of aspirations among theyounger lot, the need of hour is a little trust in their abilities and impetusin the right direction.
A two pronged strategy based on cultivation of the rightskill set and then providing the platform for its exploitation would payexcellent dividends. Let us take an example, training youth in the hospitalityand adventure tourism will open avenues for them. Handicraft sector in Jammuand Kashmir is labour intensive and can generate a lot of employment. What isrequired is reforms that ensure the elimination of middle men and competitionfrom machine woven fabric. Professional Kashmir branding and a contemporarybusiness model would help the people to benefit and take their products to alarger market in the rest of India. Education, training and opening up of theeconomy is imperative; sectors that have potential of huge employmentgeneration within the state need to be given impetus.
People living in valleys and mountainous regions invariablyfind it difficult to adjust to a cosmopolitan culture. Such integration is allthe more difficult for the Kashmiris’ because of a very unfortunate feeling ofdistrust. There is a need to understand the fault-line and deal with the samewith sensitivity since it is very important to get the youth of Kashmir to shedtheir inhibition and move out in search of “greener pastures.” They need to beinspired to become a part of the larger Indian success story. They have to begiven the motivation to see the whole of India and beyond as the right platformfor fructification of their aspirations. Every person who goes out feels thepinch and suffers hardship, the youth of Kashmir will need to be made aware ofthis reality and learn to cope with it. With the right skills under their beltthey could and should give wings to their dreams throughout the country.Somewhere, sometime a beginning has to be made and the time is right now.
Many in the political community, especially within thevalley, emphatically insist that Kashmir is a political issue. Now is the timefor these leaders to stand up and be counted. They need to reinforce theirconviction with tangible action on ground. In a political initiative, engagement of the people should gain primacy!In Kashmir engagement of the youth stands out as most significant. Dealing withthe situation is the responsibility of the political leadership. Politicalleaders need to take the lead and ensure that the civil society follows them.The abrasive politics of religion that have been thrust upon the people withskillful use of propaganda and money power needs to be challenged. What remainsto be seen is whether the political class will avail of this opportunity offritter it away as has been witnessed in the past. The task is not verydifficult since it has righteousness on its side so here is hoping for thebest!