Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Collective power of the youth – for our country’s resurgence…I will “Go Direct”.. And you?

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam once said that the great challenge of transforming India can be achieved through youth, which has got the power of ideas, ambition and ability.

Another report mentions how India's youth have a very unique advantage, they have a combination of mobility, language, education, a thirst for knowledge and a technology-savvy nature, qualities that will drive the nation's growth in the coming years

Definitely a matter of pride for us…right? But then we are not growing as a country the way we should…. And if I had to believe what the analysts and what Dr. Kalam are saying… then I know that we are not growing because we are working towards it…. Atleast I am not!

I know very few youths, including myself who have really gone beyond their immediate social circle to do something for the society, for our country? Yes we care, yes we are proud of who we are and yes we want to make a difference… but then what happens beyond that?

Statistics report that almost 72 % of India's population is below the age of 40 and close to 47% of Indians are under the age of 20, and it is supposedly this collective power that can help India achieve its dream. But then what this therefore means is that this 72% of Indians need to now rise up, wake up from their slumber, fasten their seat belts and accelerate their actions towards making India a country the world can be proud of.

It is important that this "youth" positioning in India becomes a rising power in all spheres and sectors. We, the youth of this country need to make things happen and make the dreams of our earlier generation a reality. After all, we are the generation that is reaping the benefits of the struggle of our forefathers who fought for the freedom of this nation. We are also the generation that is reaping the benefits of our forefathers’ work, determination and attitude.

So what are we expected to do?

Be aware of where the country is heading – How many us have actually deep-dived into this year’s annual budget and made notes on what are the highlights and lowlights… what is green and what is red… Not me.. Did you? Why is it that we did not foresee the service tax inclusion on healthcare services and figure out that this is unjustified and unfair? That wasn’t rocket science…. Or maybe we read about it and just figured that we cannot do anything….

Release the passion towards the progress of the country –We are the same people who put in our best foot for a college fest, stayed back late after college to practice for competitions and worked over-time for that important client visit. We know how to make the best use of 24 hours because we believe that our involvement will make a difference….. can we bring the same passion to make a difference to our country? I had always assumed that if I study well and if I have a great career then I am actually indirectly contributing to the growth of the country…..I think what I need to now do is go direct…. I think we need to feed our passion into the resurgence of our country!

Believe that together we can – Thanks to web 2.0, today we are much closer to our family and our friends. Social networking sites have allowed us to track everything that goes on in our friends’ lives…. its’ time we now use this technology to our advantage. Lets use our collective power to stand up against violence, work for the under-privileged and work towards creating awareness for causes like organ donation, female infanticide and many more. All we have to do is take that one step towards using our networking and build a snowball effect for all that’s good.

I want to make a difference and I want to make a difference by contributing more directly….I know its’ hard.

While its’ easy to think about contributing, its’ hard to actually get down to doing it…. There are so many things I am already involved in – home, family, work, ambitions, holidays, friends, kids and so much more……all of them important… all of them critical…. but one thing is for sure….. I atleast know I am going to be conscious towards working to ‘be more direct’….I will come up with a plan that will allow me to contribute to my country and I will work towards implementing that…. What about you?

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