Across
the globe there is talk of massive influx of human refugees into EU nations.
Heart-rending images of the body of a 3-year-old kid washed ashore in Turkey
have been flashed by the Media across the world.
People
seeking asylum have besieged Budapest in Hungary. Many countries in the EU have
been forced to take unprecedented measures to stop this massive influx. When we
look at the larger picture and try and understand the reasons, we will realize
that this was a human tragedy waiting to happen. Fawned by political unrest in
the Middle East, decades of poverty in Africa, genocide like conditions being
created by the Islamic State: all have contributed to this flashpoint.
At
the core of the problem is the inequitable growth across the globe. The rich nations
have grown richer while the not so prosperous nations and their citizens have
grown poorer. It is not only the monetary indicators, which are defining the
rich versus the poor debate. Other factors like freedom vs oppression, health,
sanitation and education are dictating the discourse. Even the global economies
where there is growth, it is not equal. All across the world, the inequalities
are becoming stark.
Herein
lies the Indian Cauldron or rather the parallel. There are hordes of immigrant
labour, which throng the bigger cities in search of employment and better
living. The government has tried through schemes like MNREGA to try and
decrease this movement by promising some minimum employment. But rather than
this minimum employment resulting in improvement of infrastructure and linkages
to the mainland, the scheme has become more of a dole to satisfy the
constituents of the politicians.
There
are large rural parts where even today there is no electricity, leave alone any
other form of development, and these are not even remote, often they abut towns
and prosperous villages but it seems they have been forgotten.
Why
rural India? Walk to any Tier II and Tier III city in India and there are just
no jobs for the youth. If you study the demographics you will find that the
elderly population in these cities is increasing since the youth tend to
migrate towards the Tier I cities in search of jobs. This is creating immense
pressure on the basic infrastructure of the already “bursting at the seams” Big
cities. This internal immigration has to stop if we are not to face a
catastrophe.
The
political leaders of all parties must realize this immediately rather then
engaging in one upmanship, before it is too late. The youth is growing
impatient, the recent violent demonstration in Gujarat, which is considered to
be one of the most peaceful and prosperous states, is just the tip of the
iceberg. Everywhere one travels in India, one will find well educated youth
either unemployed or doing jobs which have no correlation to their educational
background and skills.
Recently
a qualified diploma mechanical engineer applied for the job of a driver in our
office, which not only shocked me but also forced me to hang my head in shame
at the country we are building. When quizzed why he wanted a job of a driver,
his reply was telling – he had not found a job for more than a year and did not
want to be a burden on his parents. We did not employ him but found him
employment as an engineer. And this is not an extreme or isolated incident; you
will find thousands of such examples.
We
all must realize that if this continues then we are heading for a flashpoint as
has been seen in the EU immigration problem. Here I must also highlight the
irresponsible role being played by a certain section of the Indian Media. One
particular publication which is widely read, has almost 25% of the paper
devoted to “ blahblah.com gets $100 million, blacksheep.com valued at
$1billion, 20 year old sets up a $10 million startup etc”. When one reads
this publication one feels that he/she has wasted his/her life compared to
these so-called millionaires and billionaires. Bombarding readers with these
super success stories, day in and day out, hides the fact that for every one of
these new age entrepreneurs who has made it, there are thousands who have
failed.
They
make it sound like Indian roads are paved with Dollars waiting to be picked up.
The youth of today inspired or rather misled by these stories want to become
millionaires and billionaires without any hard work or trying to learn on the
job. This leads to unreasonable expectations and creates further unrest.
In
our office we have had youngsters leaving the jobs because they did not find
enough glamour, or because they did not like the coffee or they were asked to
be properly dressed, etc. In our times we could not think of staying without a
job after our educations. These youngsters all belong to the “haves” category,
who have never seen any hardships and whose parents are willing to foot all
their bills – including an expensive but largely “useless” education!
Today
there is so much dichotomy – those who have jobs do not want to work and those
who want to work have no jobs. And it has become a serious issue!!!
We
must all, in our own way, try and address these issues. As parents we must tone
down our kids expectations, as teachers we must teach our students the value of
hard work and learning, as youth we must realize that for most there are no
shortcuts to success, as leaders we must realize that we have a larger
responsibility to the society as a whole, as the media we must make it a point
to give a balanced view of life rather than highlighting just a few blips and
raising sky high “wrong” expectations of the youth.
If
we all collectively do not address the issue of inequitable social fabric in
the country then we must all be prepared to face the consequences. What is
happening in EU today can very well be the story of India tomorrow!
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