National Youth Day is celebrated every year on 12 January, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, one of the most influential spiritual leaders and social reformers of India. The Government of India declared this day as National Youth Day in 1984, to honour the ideals and teachings of Swami Vivekananda and to inspire the youth of the country to follow his example. Swami Vivekananda was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India. He represented India at the Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893, where he delivered his famous speech that introduced Hinduism to the West and won the admiration of many. He also founded the Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Math, which are engaged in various social service activities.
National Youth Day is celebrated with various events and programs across the country, especially in educational institutions and youth organizations. In Kashmir, the day is observed with enthusiasm and zeal, as the youth participate in various activities such as lectures, seminars, workshops, cultural programs, sports, yoga, meditation etc. The aim of these events is to spread the message of Swami Vivekananda and to motivate the youth to contribute to the development of the state and the nation. As per National Youth Policy of 2014, youth are defined as those aged between 15 to 29 years and constitutes of 27.5% of India’s population. As data specific to Kashmir is not available 30 to 40 % from the fwg data of complete Jammu and Kashmir can be considered as the youth population of Kashmir: –
S No
Age Group
Male
Female
Total
15-19
6,40,362
5,97,100
12,37,462
20-24
6,03,578
5,57,335
11,60,913
25-29
5,84,559
5,01,563
10,86,122
Total
18,28,499
16,55,998
34,84,497
It can be considered that out of the total youth population of Jammu and Kashmir altogether i.e., 34,84,947 the population of youth in Kashmir can be considered roughly between 10,45,358 to 13,93,978 or simply between 10.5 lakh to 14 lakhs.
As per UNESCO’s definition Literacy Rate means the percentage of the population of a given age group that can read and write. According to National Statistical Office (NSO) data, as of the Year, 2021 India’s average literacy rate is 77.70%. From the census report of 2011, the average literacy rate of Kashmir is about 61.51% which ranges between the worst in India i.e., Bihar with literacy rate of 47% and 96.1% in Kerala as registered in census of 2011. However, as per the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) the unemployment rate of complete Jammu and Kashmir was 22% in Oct 2022 as compare to 7.11% of National Avg. As the data is of complete J&K state one can easily understand the percentage would be further higher for Kashmir once taken alone. Politically Kashmir is the most unstable and volatile region of India and invariably all developed projects are affected by this Political turmoil. It takes years to plan and development of a region however, because of terrorism these planning and investments by the govt is not bearing fruits on ground. For example, one of the leading rays of hope for unemployed youth is JKEDI (Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute) because this training centre develop youth for self-employment and entrepreneurship so that they can find themselves fit for industrial jobs but this was burnt and became a victim of political turmoil. Both these sit of Political unrest and terrorism has slowly and steadily resulted into Separation anxiety amongst the youth wherein, inspite of having a literacy rate of 61.51% youth are afraid of leaving their home for pursuing a good career, fearing the wellbeing of their parents and relatives during their absence.
Approx 70% of Kashmir population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for livelihood and other sector providing jobs are tourism, electricity and horticulture. Strong Public sect and miniscule amount of private sector is also responsible for unemployment. Majority of population in Kashmir lives in rural area and are conservative and fundamentalists. Development in any field is only possible when people are exposed to new ideas and are willing to upgrade themselves as per sit. Muslim Clergies and Madrassas can also be considered as one of the major factor obstructing the thought process and thereby restricting the youth to a particular field and evolution.
For many poor families, madrasa is the only source of education for their children, since they charge no/ min fees and provide free boarding and lodging to their students. Every madrassa follows its own pattern in the matter of study structure. There is no uniformity with regards to subjects, books or emphasis. Furthermore, there is no uniformity in the number of years for preparing students for various degrees. They defy any particular pattern in terms of the education, infra, number of intakes and funding. Apart from various disadvantages the main disadvantage of madrassa education sys is its religion centric approach and non-incorporating modern development in science/ other fields thereby restricting job opportunities for student passing out from madrassa and creating conservative and fundamentalist ideology. Although, it would be difficult to bring madrassa under the diaspora of mainstream education system but sometime it is better to take bitter medicine for prevention/ cure of a disease and disease in terms of development is stereotype mentality.
Kashmir in comparison to other region in the country is way behind when it comes to Pvt Sect. As highlighted earlier also, approx. 70% of job are generated through agriculture and other public sectors which is below par than the actual requirement. Therefore, establishing good private sector grid will not only create job opportunities for the youth but will also divert their mind and energy from negativity to nation building. It is an ambitious initiative aimed to provide a vibrant medium for youth engagement & empowerment in J&K. The mission & strategy is to facilitate youth to become ambassadors of peace, prosperity & socio-economic growth through systematic interventions across domains.
