All World
Gayatri Pariwar

   As a person attains youth there grows a strong desire in him to become self-reliant. He wants to stand on his own feet and be the master of his life. Until some decades back this desire was largely a male phenomenon. But over the years young girls too have been exhibiting this urge more and more strongly, sometimes even more than the boys. Practically every college going girl today wants to be self-reliant financially. She wants to be a “woman of substance” and cut out an independent identity of her own. The concept of ‘working woman’ is a common currency now.

But this ambition to become self-reliant is not easy to fulfill. Government sector jobs are continually shrinking while the number of educated youth has phenomenally increased. This growth in their population is matched by their growing ambition for better employment, better pay and perks and better life styles.

It is true that private sector employment opportunities have tremendously increased. But their demand is more or less confined to select fields, especially information technology and management. Liberal arts, social sciences and even basic sciences have few takers. Besides, even in the private sector, there are many kinds of contractual limitations; and the work pressures are increasing to unreasonable limits. To add to the woes, government is also slowly tightening its grip over even the private enterprise. This, not exactly for ensuring better work conditions for the employee, but for caste reservations and other such political mileage. The situation is that ability and merit cannot necessarily guarantee employment.

As for going in for self-enterprise this requires capital which is not available to the larger majority. Government and bank loans are of course there but the rosy picture painted in media announcements as well as print advertisements and hoardings fall far short of percolating to the branch level.

Then, one finds the usual procedural bottlenecks and discouraging conditions and limitations. Some do get these loans without much trouble but a large number are forced to waste their time in frustrating runs from table to table, from this office to that office trying to meet the myriad conditions that are raised from time to time. Ansh Sahni of Employment Research Program says that the data gathered from the field and their evaluation show the gravity of the situation.

But all said and done, the old dictum “Where there is a will, there is a way” still holds good. The young students - boys and girls - of Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya have vindicated this truth and moulded it in tune with the changing times. The subtle guidance of Yugrishi Gurudev has ever been their beacon.

These youngsters believe that as long as there is human existence and society, there will remain work opportunities too. The only need is to identify them and avail of them. There are many areas of work and there are many regions in the country whose specific needs are not being fulfilled by the central or state governments. The private sector too, engrossed as it is in purely profit motive, remains completely unaware of or unconcerned with such work or areas, while the people there are daily struggling to meet even the most basic needs of life.

The students of different academic disciplines of DSVV have formed their own groups. The mission of these groups is to reach different corners of the country and work there. During their internship they had received such suggestions and indications as, if implemented, would provide not only personal employment to them but would also enable the society to get the benefit of their specific abilities. Indeed, if university students, after completing the academic work go in groups to needy areas and work in the fields of basic education, health and other primary requirements of life, they would not feel helpless. The local people often come out of their shells and move forward to provide financial and other infrastructural support to these workers.

Now even the students of some reputed commercial institutions have started working on this model in their own way. Management expert Niskarsh Roy is working amongst the youth of the North-East along with some of his associates. This team comprises of experts from different fields. They have prepared a plan to impart to the local youth specific training, suitable to and sustainable by local resources. Besides, this team is also establishing a bond between the emotional impulses of the regional culture with the broad culture of India, so that inhabitants of far flung areas do not feel separate or isolated but emotionally integrated with the composite culture of India. All the members of this team are getting the fullest support of the local populace in this venture; their warmth, necessary resources, money and physical cooperation are all available to this team. For this they are not dependent on any governmental or private agency
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It is their belief that if the youth of India convert the task of national and social reconstruction into an avenue of self-employment it will be doubly advantageous to them. They will not only become employed and self-reliant but would also have the gratifying feeling of having contributed in a substantive and creative way to the progress of the motherland. For this, however, the young generation would have to show courage and become a bulwark against the fast crumbling fabric of morality.