Swami Vivekananda: A global youth icon

Show me the heroes that the youth of your country look up to, and I will tell you the future of your country — Idowu Koyenikan

Swami Vivekananda is famous worldwide for his ground breaking speech to the 1893 World Parliament of Religions where he introduced the true essence of Hinduism to the world. Hinduism is a religion that taught tolerance and universal acceptance - the acceptance of all religions. He addressed the gathering as "Sister and Brothers of America", and the hall full of who's who of the religious, spiritual world and people of royalty and dignitaries applauded him for several minutes. He was the greatest Indian saint, a monk, philosopher, a preacher and a writer. But among all these, Swami ji was a youth icon whose writing and motivational speeches inspire all Indians, especially the youth, till today. His writings and speeches evoke magical effects and his words enkindle the love for the motherland as he established the motherland as the only deity to be worshipped in the mind and hearts of countrymen. He said, "It is the same land which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its undying vigour, indestructible life. Life is of the same nature of the soul, without beginning and end, immortal, and we are the children of such a country." He strived to convey his ideas to millions of youth and stressed the role of youth in the making of India of his dreams. In his words "My hope of the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, renouncing all for the service of others, and obedient – good to themselves and the country at large." He urged the Indian youth to educate themselves and emphasised how service should be the focus of their lives. "Your country requires heroes; be heroes; you must go on working, and then everything will follow of itself."

12th January, Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary is celebrated as National Youth Day in memory of this forever hero of all citizens of India, especially the youths.

Today, India is a youthful country, with the highest youth and children population in the world, comprising 808 million (66%) under the age of 35. Only a healthy youth generation has the potential to contribute towards the betterment of our society, socially economically and progressively. And channelizing youth for nation-building is an essential element of India's future growth. Engaging and involving them productively is key to channelizing their growth prospects, both for nationhood and their livelihood sustainability.

Swamiji said - A nation is advanced in proportion to education and intelligence spread among the masses.

Our state, Assam, is blessed. We have some of the best citizens – educated, intelligent and brave. Unfortunately, we could never harness the full potentiality of our young population, allowing a lot of brain drain to happen and forcing the state to be deprived of quality people and lag on multiple spheres. Even today, we have challenges no doubt and one of them is skilled manpower. We lack a properly trained and skilled workforce at every level, from the top high-end jobs to even the simplest of work requirements – high skilled, semi-skilled to low skill requirement and even amongst the white collar jobs, we have a crisis. In 2022, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma mentioned how after our present Principal Shri Jishnu Baruaretires, we have no Assamese IAS to take over. Our numbers in terms of IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS, IITians, AIIMs, Data Scientists, Other Scientists, Researchers, Policy Makers, and net value worth Entrepreneurs are just a few countable numbers. In 2022 three candidates from Assam, Shilpa Khanikar, Ayushi Kalwar and Devajyoti Burman have successfully cleared the final round of UPSC exams this year. Our workforce readiness, sorry to say, is one of the lowest in the world and existing training is yet not in alignment with the fast-changing IT enables industry needs.

Recently CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also spoke about how youths of Assam need to respect work culture and be true to it, we do face quality issues when it comes to the output of our workforce youths. So it is both a quality and quantity crisis.

Assam's youth population below 19 years is estimated at 6.5 million adolescents, comprising 18 %of the state's population. This is the largest-ever cohort of young people to make a transition to adulthood. It is this group that can boost and sustain the socio-economic growth of Assam seen in absolute terms, on the one hand, and in comparative terms with the other major states of our country having youths with potential. A well-nurtured and equipped youth cohort will lead to larger productive work participation and consequent growth in the GDP and the well-being of our state. However, this population of young people constitutes a potential demographic dividend, and therefore there are challenges of mega proportions if not properly addressed and harnessed. It will be important to create opportunities for productive employment, income generation, and a healthy workforce, with an equal focus on the importance to provide the basic foundation to enhance their potentiality. While at the same time, to compete, conquer and thrive in this 21st century, our youths must constantly upgrade their skill sets and also have a growth mindset. It is important to understand that in today's fast-moving world, we are a part of an infinite game, where players must constantly gather new resources and skills to stay in the game. Embracing the growth mindset will help us build strong and innovative ecosystems in an ever-changing and evolving world.

As the icon of youth and young India, Swami Vivekananda favoured strong and energetic youth for a secure future for our nation. Swamiji ceaselessly inspired and exhorted Indians to arise, awake and struggle till they achieved their self-mastery as individuals and as a nation. In Swamiji's words "Each nation has the destiny to fulfil, each nation has a message to deliver, each nation has a mission to accomplish."

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