Youth and Politics

"The enthusiasm of youth is the driving force behind progress." - Aung San Suu Kyi

"The fire within youth can light up the world." - Swami Vivekananda

"The youth are the beating heart of social transformation." - Nelson Mandela

Whenever I go through such inspirational quotes of great personalities, fill me up with a zeal to work for the betterment of society.

Politics has been a driving force and an effective mechanism to bring in noticeable socio-economic changes in society. But, in Bihar's context, things look pretty gloomy.

This is because the leaders who emerged from JP Movement could not lead Bihar onto the path of development and failed to deliver on all fronts.

Industrial units collapsed, healthcare facilities shattered, educational institutions bacame the centre of Politics, Govt beneficiaries were empty handed because of widespread corruption, caste sentiments were deep rooted,law and order was in shambles, goons were protected by people in power.

After a decade and so, Bihar witnessed power shift, people's aspirations were very high and the govt tried to fulfill that , though, apart from infrastructure and law and order, there was nothing on paper.

Education and health was never the priority, no policymaking for industrial revival either. 

The leadership was deprived of young faces who could think of youth and the problems they were facing in terms of lack of employment opportunities and quality higher education.

All this created mess and culminated in mass migration of Bihar population to different cities of developed states of India. Bihar is still the poorest state with worst socio-economic indicators.

Meanwhile, Bihar became the first state to conduct Caste Based Survey, the findings of that survey unleashed the scientific data of poverty of Bihar. Assessing the pitiable condition, the people in power should have come with gamechanging policies to eradicate poverty.Rather, they turned up with appeasement policy of reservation.

Bihar is already victim of migration, excessive reservation will create further migration because of limited opportunities for unreserved and create brain drain.

To sum up, Bihar politics is roaming around vote bank and appeasement, with no vision for development.

On the other hand, Prashant Kishor,a reverse migrant,is in the political fray and he is like beacon of hope for all dejected Biharis who want to see leadership change and transformation on socio-economic, educational and industrial fronts of Bihar . His Jan Suraaj campaign is reaching out to people all across Bihar to sensitize them about their rights and calling for youth to join politics to create a new political ecosystem that could demolish the outdated and dynastic politics.

Image courtesy: Google