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Appetite for Adventure
The time of life when one is young; especially the period
between childhood and maturity. This is how the Webster's New
World Dictionary defines youth. They are also called the
adolescents, the teenagers, and the young persons. They have
enormous untapped potential. World over, MNCs want to recruit
Indian youth, as they are intelligent, sharp, sincere, punctual,
hard working and honest. To whichever country you may go, you
will see Indian youngsters working and earning high
remunerations.
However, this brain-drain has inevitably
caused a severe dent back home. Most of our rural youth are
still illiterate, unemployed or underemployed. They are not as
productive as they should be. The percentage of youth in the
overall population of our country has been increasing manifold.
What role can they play in the development of our rural areas?
Dr. G Ramachandran, formerly Vice Chancellor
of the Gandhigram University used to say that if at all our
villages improve, it could be made possible only by our youth.
Of course, he warned against the aggression of the urbanism. It
would be like an elephant entering a China-shop, as he would put
it. The local youngsters in any village can make the difference.
No doubt, they are doing their best to make the elders
understand the importance of modern development.
The advent of Television and mobile phones
has been tranforming our villages, no doubt. But, this is hardly
enough. Every young boy and girl in the village should go to
school. If the parents do not send their wards to school they
should be punished. Every youngster should be computer-literate.
They should also be conversant with English. Otherwise, in this
era of globalisation , there is a danger of their being left
behind in the race for jobs, money and dignity.
Fortunately, our youngsters have leadership
qualities. Instilling hope, inspiring vision and opening doors
of opportunities and commitments. That is the essence of
leadership qualities in the youth. They have it all – and in
abundant measure. The youth can make a positive difference in
our society, if others make a positive step towards them. What
is required is to enable them maximise their potential and
increase their abilities within the available resources.
As Robert Kennedy said, this world demands
the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind,
a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance
of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the
love of ease.
H Ramakrishnan
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