By Nayan Bhatnagar:
The headlines of one of the leading newspapers often goes like, “Youth arrested for abducting boy in Mumbai”, “A professor beaten to death by his own students”.
Going through such headlines has become a routine affair for us. The country is plagued by many catastrophic, socio-economic issues like poverty, terrorism, illiteracy and corruption. The involvement of the youth in overcoming these problems is of great importance. The youth, in a rising nation like ours, plays a strong role in bringing reforms to restructure the nation. They protest and demand what is best for the nation. A case in point is the protest campaign organised mainly by the younger sections of the society to dissent against the acquittal of the convicts in the Jessica Lal murder case. The youth came out in full force and protested against the law that had favoured the rich and the famous. This ultimately led the high court to punish the guilty.
However, lately, in order to earn quick bucks and the need to fulfil their dreams and desires at the earliest, young people have resorted to unlawful means to achieve them. Is the future of the nation becoming its own destructor? According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 44 per cent of the arrested criminals belong to the age group of 10 to 30 years, which is the ‘youth’ (As per the 2011 statistics).
There is a section of the youth who have been achieving their goals through unlawful means. Crimes ranging from thefts to kidnapping, murders, rape and sex scandals involve such people. The crime rate has been drastically increasing. Why has the youth of this nation become so pugnacious? Is it due to under-employment or the lack of law enforcement in the country?
On one hand, we are fighting to reduce the minimum age of consumption of alcohol while on the other, we are consuming it, driving recklessly and killing people. We are raising our voices on women’s safety and we are the one raping them. Youngsters belonging to well-to-do families have also been caught in cases of hacking bank accounts. Recently, in Delhi, five young men were convicted for thrashing an Air force officer for overtaking the latter’s car. This highlights that they do not have patience, there is a lot of anger in them and the only problem is that they are directing this anger in the wrong direction.
According to leading psychiatrists, the lack of adequate opportunities frustrates young people to an extent where they use any method possible to attain success. Many also believe that youngsters who take the path of crime are the troubled ones. This could be true in some of the cases but people in their 20s, committing a murder over who should get a prantha first is something beyond imagination, as seen in an incident that occurred at midnight in a posh area of South Delhi. Such cases are endless. Many cases like sexual assaults and minor rapes go unreported and the youngsters feel free to commit the same again. Even the judicial system shows leniency towards the accused and no stern action is taken.
It is time for the country to revamp its judicial system and processes. Most of the accused are not afraid of being caught after committing the crime. The criminals know that their case will simply pile up with the rest of the cases and by the time the punishment is announced, they might not even exist. Further, the government should take appropriate measures to revive the economy so that employment opportunities are created, not just in metros but in rural areas as well. And last but not the least, the youth should realise their importance as they act as a role model for the future generations. Today’s youngsters are the future of the nation and they ought to act like one.