What Young India does not Want

I am a regular viewer of Just Books that is telecasted on NDTV and it was a pleasant surprise to watch Hon’ble MP from Kendrapada, Odisha Mr. Baijayant Panda and Hon’ble MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Mr. Sashi Tharoor on the panel to discuss about Chetan Bhagat's new book "What Young India Wants". This show prompted me to write a blog about the topics that were being debated in the panel discussion.

I haven't read the book and hence wouldn't comment on it. While Mr. Bhagat said that young Indians only care about a good job and their love life which is not entirely wrong; it is just one part of the whole story. It holds true for those fortunate young Indians who were blessed with good genes and a good background and had the privilege of access to decent educational institutions. But as Mr. Tharoor rightly pointed out what about the millions who are not fortunate enough to go to schools? I am not very sure about those people and I can only hope these young people who are also a part of the India growth story don't have a defeatist attitude towards life.

The household help who comes to our house and that of our neighbours slogs for more than 10 hours a day so that her son and her daughters can wear decent cloths and she can buy books and notebooks for them and pay for their private tuition. I am sure many such young people who pass out of schools and colleges with low grades are unemployable and the matter of concern is these young people don't have a clue what they want to do in life and that's where the problem begins. There is nobody who is there to guide these people and nobody seems to have the time to bother about them.

I have seen and observed many a times that people like us (me included) think that these people are born poor and would die as poor and as destitute. We don't even bother to think that they have their own lives to live, that the waiter who serves us at the restaurant likes good food as much as we do, that the household help who comes to our house likes watching movies, that the chauffeur who takes us around aspires that someday he would also own a bike or a car.

Talking about higher education, Mr. Panda pointed out that India produces the lowest number of Phd holders in the world. Most young Indians view higher education as a short cut to a good life and selection of colleges and Universities is based on campus offers and pay packages and not on the background of the faculty and the strong research background the institution holds. It is so because very few parents encourage their children to get doctorate or post doctorate degrees. They are more concerned about the company that the sons and daughters of their relatives, neighbors and colleagues have got into and the high packages that these young people are drawing. The only thing that a student pursuing higher education is bothered about during the final years of B.Tech,M.Tech,MBBS or MBA or other professional or general course , thanks to his circumstances and pressure from family and peers, is a good job and a good pay package. How can he/she even think of a Doctorate degree under such circumstances where he/she has been made to feel that the sole purpose of higher education is a good job and higher salary that would ultimately lead to higher social status ?

I cannot say much about politics because I never seen politics from close quarters. But I can say that not every young Indian despises politics or politicians. But today’s young Indian is getting a very wrong signal as far as politics and politicians are concerned and this needs to change. Young Indians residing in villages have seen and observed that the local politician is the most influential person who can get things done. Today’s politicians are viewed as someone who has power and financial backing of influential people in the society and they can get things done for something in return. This very thought has done more damage to the image of politicians than any other thing in the past and the present. To me it seems like offering prasad at the temple and bribing the priest in the form of dakshina so that the lord may grant all their wishes.

Today’s young Indian has also observed that getting into politics and fighting elections as an independent candidate is by no means an easy task and this can be compared to the days of License raj when businessmen had to fight intense red tapeism to set up legitimate businesses. They see that only those young people do well in politics who are members of various regional or national political parties and who inherit the political legacy of their fathers, uncles and grandfathers. Dynasty politics is one of the single biggest deterrents and it is one of the major reason as to why today’s young Indian is distancing himself/herself from politics and politics is being termed as ‘dirty’. I can cite examples of many national and regional parties to prove my point. Be it the Congress party at the Centre; the Samajwadi Party in UP; NCP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra; DMK in Tamil Nadu; BJD in Odisha ; the TDP and YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh ; the Akali Dal and INLD in Punjab and Haryana respectively – all these parties have thrived upon and indeed perfected the art of dynasty politics.They have even created a sort of a successful template for other to emulate.

Young Indians certainly don't want this. I am not as sure as Mr. Chetan Bhagat as to what young Indians want but I can only say a few things about what young Indians certainly don’t want. Young Indians don’t want a society which is divided on the basis of caste, colour and creed. Young Indians certainly don’t want a society where one’s caste becomes the basis of selection for a certain job and an institution while merit takes a back seat. Young Indians certainly don’t want to go to schools and colleges that are run by the state governments and private institutions which merely make them literate rather than educating them. Young Indians don’t want to vote for political parties that merely view them as vote bank and not as the future of the country. Young Indians don’t want to work for organizations and people who think that they are doing a big favour by employing these bright young people and can treat people in any way as it pleases them because they are being paid to work. Young Indians don’t want to be part of a governance system that doesn’t hold those people accountable whose primary job is to find ways to improve the lives of people whom they represent in the Vidhan Sabhas, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.  

I think perhaps the best way to sum up my views is to quote one of my favorite singers of all times – Bono who had said, “This is a time for bold measures. This is the country, and you are the generation.”