A statement of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, is on the record where he said that the Kashmiri youth have the capability of not only leading the country but also the world. Remarkably, the Home Minister stated this during an interaction with Kashmiri youth and children in a programme organised by an NGO Sarhad at Pune on Saturday. Sarhad is a known organisation for its commendable social work for the last few decades in Kashmir.
Such a statement from none other than the Home Minister is a huge morale booster to the youth of Kashmir.
The encouragement of the Home Minister to Kashmiri youth came at a time when the ground situation in the J&K region, particularly in Kashmir, continues to change for betterment. The statement is a ray of hope now visible to the Kashmiri youth to explore their potential for making their present prosperous and future bright. At the same time, it’s also a fact that now channelizing the power of Kashmiri youth deep into the mainstream rests on the intentions of people at the helm of affairs. This is the time to continue to instil a sense of safety in Kashmir youth that their exploitation and persecution is a thing of the past and they won’t face challenges in carving a safe space with dignity for themselves anywhere in the country.
In short, the statement will have a great impact to restore their confidence to get on board with the national development programmes in the long run. I am sure the statement – Kashmiri youth is capable of leading the world – must have brought smiles on the faces of the Kashmiri youth.
A beautiful quote of Franklin D. Roosevelt is worth sharing. ‘We cannot always build the future of our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.’
Problem of Unemployment or Employability
Ours is a rich economy. But we have not been able to keep pace with the national economy and this has led to a poor employment scenario. The reason is lack of a valid developed private sector and lack of private investment base. This lack of investment in our economy is the core of the issue. While we witness a burgeoning number of unemployed youth in Kashmir, at the same time thousands of people coming as skilled and unskilled workforce from outside the state find work here.
This situation can simply be defined as a paradox. And the reason for this absurdity is the skill profile of our unemployed youth in the current times which is not what the market needs. This gap between the market requirements and the available unemployed youth force is basically the problem of employability.
This is the scenario which only leads us to believe that we have opportunities to employ people but it’s the lack of skill among our unemployed youth which is an impediment in their employment. So, to address the unemployment issue, the basic thing is to change the skill profile of our youth to meet the market needs.
If current initiatives aiming at realising the power and potential of J&K youth are taken into consideration, a new era of economic development of the region is not far away. Giving wings to the power of youth of J&K in true sense will transform the region to become the hub of industrial activities in the northern region.
Take the case of Information Technology (IT) – the sunrise industry. It has revolutionised the way human beings organise themselves. It has transformed beyond recognition, the way industries operate. This sector is one of the top most potential sectors of Investment in J&K. By now there should have been an IT revolution in J&K. But nothing much has happened on this front. There is no dearth of manpower and as far as climatic conditions are concerned, there is nothing averse which can hamper the IT revolution.
Being a knowledge-based industry, the large pool of educated manpower available in J&K can be trained in the IT sector to cater to the emerging needs and challenges in the industry. There is an urgent need to fall back upon hardware as well as software professionals in the sector for creating an atmosphere where unemployed youth are technically empowered to start their own IT businesses. This will be a big leap forward if hospitality is extended to foreign investors for their investment in the IT sector in J&K.
Other potential sectors of investment include electronic and precision engineering, food processing, handloom and handicrafts, sericulture and silk industry, textiles and readymade garments and agro-based industry. Livestock based industry, leather and leather goods, processing of gems and precious stones and mining projects and mineral based industry are other potential sectors which can revolutionise the economic scenario if explored to the maximum.
Lastly, let brand India, which is firmly entrenched in the international psyche as a growth engine of the global economy, be leveraged by J&K as a cushion to realise economic development never-seen-before. And, for this, bring Kashmiri youth at the centre-stage, as they have the capability to lead the transformation.
Youth Too Have a Responsibility
Kashmiri youth too have a responsibility to pull out themselves of uncertainty. They should not get themselves engaged in a rewardless competition of achieving fame that too without achieving anything. With the advent of social media platforms, most of our youth force has transformed itself into a Facebook community and many of these young people do nothing but sell themselves. They have dedicated their lives to self-promotion and have their own desperation to be famous not for their values but for their visibility.
A quick glance at the engagement of many youth on social media networks sounds a matter of concern as the platform is simply used by them as a fame machine where majority appear sad, lonely, desperate, narcissistic browser who only want acknowledgement, even if it is from other sad, lonely, desperate, and narcissistic browser. This is the real tragedy. Today, every youth via social media like Facebook is engaged to become a celebrity. Almost every one of them runs his own show on the platform which means there’s no one to watch them. Youth constitutes more than half of our population and the irony is that most of the members of this youth generation are waiting for the future to arrive at their doorstep. During the course they lose time to garner opportunities in life to live in peace and prosperity.
So, the youth need to explore their capabilities on ground not only to earn their livelihood but also achieve real fame and should not turn themselves into fake junkies. Let their talent speak for them Otherwise, this is nothing but a kind of social aberration.
