Frustrated Youth of India | UPSC Mains Essay Preparation PDF Download

Frustrated Youth of India

structure

(1) Opening    —    Fictitious incidents

(2) Body    —    Socio-economic reasons.

    —    Frustation due to unfulfilled ambition.

    —    Large population.

    —    Unproductive land.

    —    Poor technology.

    —    Lack of avenues in cities.

    —    Educated unemployed youth.

    —    Unfairness and blatant corruption.

    —    Exploited by vested interests.

    —    Takes to crimes, drugs.

    —    Riots, loots, burns & kills.

(3) Closing    —    Hope achievements of young people.

    —    Need to provide right environment and right facilities.

Suresh, 20, was murdered in broad daylight by a group of young men with whom he had a fight the day before over the use of a community tap. Two class 8th students murdered their friend after a petty quarrel over some nuts. A group of students barged into the office of their principal and ransacked the office. These are not stories from some crime magazine but real incidents that take place almost everyday in one city or the other. Suresh may be Ravi, Ali, Joseph or any other person but the cause behind all these crimes remains the same—frustration of Indian youth. Almost everyday we read in newspapers that youngmen destroyed public places under the pretext of one rally or the other. We hear of students beating teachers or misbehaving with girls. Where is the youth of our country—the torch bearer of our future—going to?

The frustration of the youth has its roots in social and economic problems. The great gap between young man’s expectations and achievements makes him disillusioned and gives rise to fitful frustration. When he feels that his hopes are dashed and ambitions unfulfilled he vents his anger by some means which in many cases take gruesome shape of crime. The frustration becomes even more when he finds that despite his best efforts he doesn’t get to his goals because of reasons that are extraneous and beyond his control.

Large population, unproductive land, primitive techniques and small land holdings create lot of pressure on land in the villages. This makes agriculture unlucrative and with no other avenues open for job in the villages, the young man moves to the city in the search for the pot of gold. But when he finds that the pot is empty, his search becomes not better than wild goose chase. He gets caught in the vicious cycle of urban poverty, living in slums, where he has to share everything with everyone. He burns from within and this anger explodes sometimes which may make him even take someone’s life over a small thing like sharing water tap.

On the other side is the educated unemployed youth—one who got degrees least knowing that these degrees will be no better than a piece of paper, albeit a stamped one. Coupled with paucity of jobs in the job market, he finds that nothing can be done without right connection or right money. Unfairness, nepotism, bribery and other forms of blatant corruption shatter his sense of idealism and fairplay. He finds that not only are the degrees useless but even what he learnt to get those degrees is a sham. He vents his anger at the establishment by destroying property of the Government, burning buses and looting shops at the first available chance either in the name of some rally or agitation. He even tries to (in his mind) settle scores with those who have got a better deal in life by looking their houses and shops during riots etc.

Frustration and anger may drive him to drugs, suicide, crime on the one hand and to insurgency, terrorism on the other. If child is the father of man, then youth certainly is his teacher. An easily impressionable young man can easily be exploited by vested interests to serve their evil design and once he is caught in the crime web, it becomes impossible for him to leave it.

Does all this mean that we should lose all hope? Certainly not, because we must also remember about those young men who have got success in their lives. Many Indian young men have shown excellence in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, literature, business etc. Not only in India, but wherever in the world have they gone, they have shown that they are second to none. Yes, they were fortunate enough to get the right environment and right facilities to develop themselves. So, instead of losing hope, it becomes our duty, being amongst the fortunate few to have got a good life, to create same environment for the unfortunate ones too. Voluntary organisations can play a great role in training young men for jobs, supporting them for self employment and also giving directions and showing light to those who have lost their way and taken to drugs and crime.