STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of DoNER, MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in contemporary India, governance must reflect youth aspirations, particularly when India today is the world’s youngest country with more than 65 per cent of its population below the age of 35 years.
This is equally as much applicable in the case of State of Jammu and Kashmir also, which is currently going through a phase of change in government, he said and hoped that whichever be the future government in J and K, it will take a special care to imbibe youth inputs and youth expectations while deciding upon its priorities.
Dr Jitendra Singh as speaking in a congregation of North-Eastern students organised by the State Unit of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad here on Monday.
Dr Jitendra said, it is a unique coincidence today that students from eight North-Eastern States along with students of India’s Northern most State are together on a common platform to commemorate the memory of two of greatest youth icons of 20th century India, Swami Vivekananda whose vision of future world is unfolding today and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee whose vision of future India is also unfolding today.
Dr. Jitendra said, it is a strange paradox that the legacy of Swami Vivekanand is sought to be revived by observing “World Brotherhood Day” because the world has come to such a pass that mortal human being needs to be reminded that the fellow human being living beside him deserves to be treated with mutual love and compassion.
Dwelling on the legacy of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Dr Singh said that because of political bias, Mukherjee remained the most under-rated leader of post-independence India and the most under-rated youth activist of pre-independence India.
Many of us tend to forget, he said that at a time when the British Raj was at its prime and there were only three Universities in India i.e. Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, and the Vice Chancellors were invariably the most renowned British academicians, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, at that time barely 34 years of age, was handpicked by British rulers to become the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. It was, however, Mukherjee’s courage of conviction that within a few years, he tendered his resignation from the post of Vice Chancellor because his conscience did not allow him to be on the salary rolls of the British Empire after he had joined the freedom struggle, he added.
Referring to the problems of the youth, he said, while in the State of J and K, youth have been ,to a large extent, deprived of vocational opportunities because of regional discrimination and deterrence to employment generation through investments from outside the State, in the North-East, there is a problem of huge exodus of students to other parts of the country because of lack of avenues of higher education and jobs.
Dr. Jitendra reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exclusive vision for North-East and referred to a series of new decisions taken during the last seven months. These include setting up of a Sports University at Manipur, opening of six new agricultural colleges, start of the first ever train link from Guwahati to Meghalaya and setting up of a North-East Para-medical Institute.
He further disclosed that only two days back, the Ministry of DoNER had taken a decision to organize visits to North-East on rotation by Union Ministers whereby every fortnight, eight Union Ministers will be visiting eight of the North-Eastern States, respectively.
Lauding the contribution of ABVP in organizing such community programmes for students from different parts of country, Dr Jitendra said, ABVP is the oldest student organization of the country which existed, although in a different format, even before independence and is inspired by ideology and culture, and not by any political objective.
Dr Singh said, it is a unique opportunity for the present generation of India to move ahead in the direction of becoming a world power by combining the visionary leadership of Narendra Modi with the overwhelming energy of young India.
Dr Nagesh Thakur, All India President of ABVP, who was the Guest of Honour on the occasion, gave a brief resume of the activities of ABVP and said that it is not a political organization, but only a character building organization for the youth. President of Jammu & Kashmir ABVP Unit, Dr. Virender Kundal and ABVP North-East Leader, Apanshu also spoke on the occasion.
