Speech about youngsters are pseudo smart
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Explanation:
books and have enjoyed all but one of them over the years. I don’t agree with many of the views expressed in his columns but that’s fine. To his credit though, he does what a good columnist should be able to do – stir thoughts and provoke a debate. He doesn’t claim to have all the answers and we can’t pelt stones at him (or anybody else for that matter) for that. I would still prefer listening to him than tolerating Rushdie’s elite ignorance or Shobhaa De’s fakeness any day of the week.
After churning out five fiction novels, he has dabbled into non-fiction and recently came out with his non-fiction book titled ‘What Young India Wants?’
I am yet to read the book simply because it is not available in Singapore where I am currently based. I, like most other NRIs who want to read Indian authors, get my hands on their works using the following two steps – Step 1: Order the book online on Flipkart or Infibeam, Step 2: Get the book through a friend, relative or colleague who travels to India. While Step 1 is complete, Step 2 is still work-in-progress. Providing overseas Indians with books by Indian authors can be a lucrative business opportunity. My house that has a healthy collection of such titles is almost like a free library with friends borrowing and returning books all the time. Hope Flipkart & Co. are listening? Anyways with Amazon expected to launch a Kindle store for India shortly, my problem should be solved soon.
Coming back to the book, its title made me stop and ponder about the aspirations of the youth that constitutes about 55% of our country’s population and yet has its voice marginalized. I couldn’t help but make a list of things that in my humble opinion I along other youngsters desire as the so-called future of the country. I personally think that the Indian youth isn’t a homogenous group. India is probably the most diverse country on the planet and nowhere is that more evident than among the youth of the country. I may be oversimplifying things here but I would broadly divide the youth into three categories:
Youth from upper middle class families
Youth from middle class and lower middle class families
Youth staying abroad
Obviously there are some common things that all the above desire, some of which are:
A stable and less corrupt government: It is too idealist to expect zero corruption and the youth of today are practical folks and not daydreamers. Moreover in my opinion we have developed a capacity to tolerate moderate levels of corruption but nowhere near the daylight robberies done in Commonwealth, 2G and ‘Coalgate’ scams.
More and better colleges and universities: This not only refers to more seats for higher education but also better quality of education as compared to no-name fly-by-the-night private operators mushrooming all over the country, charging lakhs in under-the-table fees from students who fail to clear the entrance exams at national/state levels. A few changes in some archaic policies by the government can do the trick but that’s a topic for another day.
Government policies that bring about more job opportunities: In my opinion, barring IAS, IPS and defense services, most youngsters, even from Tier II & Tier III cites don’t want to have stable and low-paying (assuming one is not corrupt) public sector jobs. This was not the case a decade ago when a good percentage of twenty somethings were more than happy to become a babu. I don’t know why but the feeling of self-actualization i.e. making use of one’s talents and abilities, has come to the fore in most youngsters in the country. Probably it stems from the achievements of young Indians around the globe that has inspired every young man/woman to believe that he/she can achieve anything if he/she puts his/her mind to it.
Consequently many youngsters today want jobs in private sector where meritocracy can take one to the top in quick time while others are following their hearts and even making unconventional career choices. What they want from their