Anisha Sharma, Principal, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Raipur

195 million young minds

In words of James "Youth is the joy the little bird that has broken out of the eggs and is eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom and hope.As per the 2001 census, every fifth person in India belongs to the age group 15-24 years. By 2011, they will be 240 million. The entire world is eyeing India as a source of technical man power.  They are looking at our youth as a source of talents at low costs.
But will India be able to utilize the human resources in the form of youth?  Our youth possess energy, new values, new thinking and new ways of life but needs to be channelized in the right direction.  Misguided youth may do more harm to the society than even the worst enemy can.
According to a survey conducted by CocaCola the primary ambition of young Indians from the smallest villages to the largest cities is to become rich. They hope to achieve this goal through enterprise and education. The most highly regarded careers were in civil services, engineering and medicine.  Now  jobs in high tech and media have replaced it.  Now making money is respectable. That is a big change.
Today's youth are very career oriented, ambitious, focused and determined to achieve.  Liberalization has created new career models and heroes for India's youth. Microsoft Chairman William Gates III is especially popular and so are successful home grown entrepreneurs like N. R. Narayan Murthy of Infosys technologies Ltd.  How can we forget to mention the name of cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar who is known for his clean image?
Unlike previous generation, today's youth are not obsessed with the ins and outs of politics.  They want a world free of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exploitation of man by man. A world free of discrimination on the grounds of race, color, language and gender. A world full of creative challenges and opportunities to conquer them. But on the other hand youth are also fascinated towards social networking sites.  There is a growing usage of internet all over the world.  The popularity of social networking sites are growing day by day and now it has become a revolutionized way of communication among youth. They are more towards technology and getting away from emotions and feeling. They like to spend much time with computer and mobiles than their parents.
Youth are also adapting western influences. Hybrid says Cyrus Broacha a video jockey of MTV. We sometimes wear a Gandhi topi, a traditional cap as well as blue jeans. Indian youth haven't fully embraced western ways. Tradition still dictates much of daily life. For e.g. still arrange marriages are taking place where parents chose children's spouses.
Education, employment and health including sexual and reproductive health are all key elements of youth empowerment. What one turns in his/ her life largely depends on the quality of education.
Youth is a period of life when heightened emotions, sense of invulnerability and an intensively heightened sex drive often lead to high risk. The awareness regarding the information on sex, sexual and reproductive health is missing. As a consequence many youth enter marriage without even the basic knowledge about sex and reproduction.
Political participation must
The role of youth is of most importance in today's era. They should be very selective while casting their vote and should start taking interest in the field of politics.  They should not become a pawn in the hands of the politicians but should remain judicious.  If they are interested to shun corruption, poverty and unemployment then they have to come forward. They should hold the political power in their hands. They have the power to make our country from developing nation to a developed nation. Is it a dream? No, not at all. They are the ones who have reached every corners of the unknown and some of them like our own Kalpana Chawla pursue her dream. Their dreams take them to stars and galaxies.
Today's youth wants to become aspiring entrepreneur rather than mere workers. They can play vital role in elimination of terrorism. They are the strong forces in social moments.
Society should mould itself according to the thinking of the young. But the young should hold the hand of older generation though the older generation may not have new thinking but of course their experience counts a lot. The old generation can help new generation inculcating their customs, traditions, ethics and moral values in them. The youth will have to revive our culture. Because it is our culture that helped India to survive despite a number of destructive forces working against it.
Today our Indian culture is mixed western packaging and the youth get confused they enjoy wearing saris  and admire our great leaders of ancient time like Rani Laxmi Bai but they also like wearing western clothes specially jeans and denim. The youth today are a curious blend of materialistic and other worldly pleasure and luxuries.
Whatever the scenario of today's youth is but there is no doubt that the responsibility for change, progress and innovation lies in their shoulders, they have the zeal to initiate revolutions. Baba Amte believed that the youth of India are a force to reckon with for the future of the country.  Give them the right direction and they will change the world.  Youth is wholly experimental and with the full utilization of the talents of the youth India will become a complete nation.