It is a fashion among our politicians to talk glibly about the growing indiscipline among the youth of the country. It is the duty of the present society and its leadership to find out precisely what ails the youth of today. And that requires a good deal of heart-searching, more than any other means of fact-finding.
There is certainly an element of unrest and insecurity, almost verging on frustration, among the youth of India today. This has found expression in so-called indiscipline and lack of idealism.
The most important function of a living society is to provide the physical and intellectual necessities for the coming generation. Can the leaders of present-day Indian society claim to have a clear conscience in this regard? That is where the process of heart searching becomes vital.
According to Acharyaji (Narendra Deo), one of the reasons for this indiscipline is that, “before independence, they worked with a missionary zeal and with an ideal – the achievement of national independence.” Today that zeal is absent as the environment does not inspire it.
The youth of the country cannot be blind to the hypocrisy they see around them; they cannot help be influenced by the undermining of human values they witness around them. What have we given the youth of the country to inspire this zeal in them?
Bickering and rivalry pervade the national scene. Conflicts and controversies transcend the limits set by the requirements of national solidarity. There is so much poverty, insecurity, inequality and greed everywhere. We have yet been unable to do anything substantial about the sterile education system in the country. There is so much uncertainty on the employment front. And our leaders have an uncanny knack of offering the most confusing advice to the youth of the country in respect to their future, their career, and their role in the task of nation building.
The trends we see in the youth of the country must be attributed to a deep seated social malady and the lack of sympathetic approach to the problems of the youth. The remedy lies, not in glib talk and pious appeals, but in creating a healthy atmosphere for the impressionable minds of the youth.
And that calls for a thorough
heart-searching.
(EDIT, November 11, 1954.)
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