Today there are countless diversions for the youth, with the media playing a leading role for this purpose. Various ideas are promoted among us youth which take us away from our paths and keep us involved in unnecessary activities. Many ideas are propagated so that we do not involve ourselves into social and political causes. Such ideas include
1)First settle down and then involve yourself in social activities.
2)If you want to do something for the society, you need to give up on other regular activities.
Let’s just analyse these conceptions as to how valid they are! Let’s look at this thought that “I will get into social activities once I have settled down”. This is what many youth today “plan” to do. However, most of the times the limit to the phrase “settle down” is not set or is unclear. What exactly do you mean when you say “I have settled down”? Does it mean that all your other responsibilities are over and now you are completely free and ready for social activities?!
In today’s scenario can the majority of the people actually “settle down”? There is no guarantee for jobs. Even if you get a job there’s no certainty that it will be the one you were looking for all your life. No guarantee that your appointment for the job is permanent! There are more than a few cases where people at higher posts like managers, etc. are made to leave the job without any prior notice for no fault of theirs! Let’s look at the recent example regarding the workers of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services).TCS employs over 3,10,000 workers today and thus is the country’s largest private sector employer. Since 8 December 2014 about 3,500 employees have been laid-off their posts, most of them having an experience of about or more than 8 years. The annual rate of attrition (net percentage of workers who leave the company due to any reason) is increasing every year. The company claims that it will be recruiting 55,000 fresh graduates. However, these freshers will be working on lower salaries hence increasing company’s profit margin. Moreover, what is the guarantee of the job safety of these new people?
Under all such conditions can we actually “settle down”? Many of us have even bigger definitions of settling down – a flat bungalow
, posh cars, etc. One must have dreams but never build dreams in the air. By this I don’t mean that these dreams are impossible to fulfil but we must not forget the time period required to fulfil them considering the deteriorating economic conditions. And even if we do “Settle down” at some point in our life how many years would we have to wait till we “Settle down”?
Time and situation must be deciding factors of any decision we make. If we say I cannot do anything for the society because I have other responsibilities and they cannot be managed together or, I’ll get into social activities once I ‘settle down’, we are losing out on man power and crucial time. Today the situation of our society is bleak. Social evils such as poverty, inflation, unemployment are on the rise rapidly. The society needs a fundamental change and it is necessary for each of us to be a part of bringing about this change. Instead of being caught into diverting ideas its necessary we all unite and organize without much delay. Change is possible and let’s all be a part of bringing the change we all desire.
Note: The article is not to scare anyone or to say that nothing is possible but is to wake us all to the current scenario. The second idea will be discussed in the
upcoming issue. See you again soon.
– Hrishikesh
