The development of a State primarily depends on its human resources and planning for its effective utilisation. Youths in the age group of 13 to 35 years in the State constitute 42 per cent of the total population of the State who are the productive forces of the society and need focus attention of the State in its planning and development prospective building.
The youths are not homogeneous as they are divided geographically, educationally, and in different social groups but the State can integrate them with common interest for their development by recognising their diversity. The National Youth Policy- 2014 and State Youth Policy- 2013 are references which are a reflection of the attitude of the ruling parties towards the youths.
The youth policies are more focused on education and employment. The employment policy of today is more favorable for urban and educated youths who are mostly looking for formal sector jobs. The employment exchange, career counseling centres, skill development and pre-examination orientation programmes are limited to the educated youths. Urban upper class youths can be easily integrated to the changes in the job market which is not possible in case of marginalised youths. There are a majority of rural uneducated and semi-literate, school dropout youths who are very insignificantly featured in our policy discourses. There is absence of career counseling and information centre at high school, college and panchayat level to guide the youths from the very beginning.
In 2011, three lakh youths registered their name in different employment exchanges of the State. The placement rate was 1.23 per cent for the same year. The live register position of the State for the year 2011 shows about 11 lakh applicants are job seekers through employment exchange out of which 9.5 lakh are educated job seekers and 1.5 lakh are below matric.
The most burning concern for the State is distress migration of youths from villages in search of employment. The most recent incident of migrant youths named Jialu Nial (30) and Nilamber Dhangada Majhi (28) in Kalahandi drew the media attention. Their hands were chopped off by some Dalals. Youths in tribal areas are joining political extremism and violence. Young women are feeling unsafe and trafficking of poor young women is continuing unabated in many parts of the State. These days in almost all the villages of the State youths are migrating in search of livelihood, because the State investment in rural areas to generate employment is very marginal. There is visible urban and rural gap in all spheres. The State has not adequately invested for skill development of the rural youths. The number of ITIs in the State in comparison to other States is very less. There has been very less effort to train youths on modern trades to meet the emerging demand of employment. There are only 610 ITIs in the State having 67,000 seats for skill development. The employment scope in agriculture and allied services is not expanding due to traditional method of cultivation and number of other problems with agriculture. The youths are not being encouraged in agriculture as modern farmers. The manufacturing sector is not expanding to supplement employment. The areas having industries and mines also have failed to generate employment for the local youths.
It is evident that in December 2013, about 5,000 youths had gathered at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium, Jajpur, for a recruitment event where police lathicharged to manage the anger of the unemployed youths. Jajpur district has 11 steel industries, 20 chromite mines and many other ancillary units in the pipeline but it is unfortunate to note that many of the youths from the district are also migrating to outside Odisha. It is because the employment generating efforts are not being integrated to the need of local youths. Same is the situation in Angul, Jharsuguda, Sundergarh and Kalahandi mines and industrial areas where local youths have been agitating in demand of job and other forms of employment opportunities.
The rural youths belonging to SC and ST communities are mostly illiterate and very few of them are semi literate and literate as it can be seen in the dropout rate in high school level which is higher in case of SC and ST students (61per cent for SCs and 65 per cent for STs in 2011-12). Adivasi children have problem in reading, writing, spelling Odia as a language along with other issues. The youths of Dalit, Adivasi communities and Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) are facing socio-cultural barriers while accessing employment in their locality either in Government or private sector because of their social identity. They are not getting adequate family support to sustain and build their career. Many of them are leaving schools and colleges to earn a living and support their families. In the absence of local employment and very marginal scope for self employment, they have no option but to migrate to urban destinations mostly located outside Odisha. They have very minimum skill to cope with job market dominated with caste and gender bias in recruitment. It is reported that young boys and girls of SC and ST communities are working in Kerala and Tamil Nadu fishing sector, textile and garment industries of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and engaged in construction work in Karnataka, Gujarat, AP and West Bengal. Thousands of young girls are working as domestic help in almost all metropolises including Bhubaneswar. The SC and ST youths are very rarely encouraged to grow as entrepreneurs of the community with credit and other hand holding support by local banks and Government officials as many of the aspiring youths of primitive tribal groups are lagging behind in many respect to come to compete in the market. The development of SC and ST youths will not be possible by charity and welfare. Youth should not be seen as beneficiaries of charity rather they should be promoted with culture of dignity and hard work. The comparative advantage with the youths of a particular social group and area specific plan can be made to intervene in such kind of situation. The skill development programme for SC and ST youths is mostly beneficial to private companies and institutions that are using a lion’s share in the name of skill development. Some of the trades provided in the name of skill development like housekeeping and home nursing are the other names of modern day domestic servant. The self employment schemes like MGNREGRA and SJSY are not being effectively integrated with skill development programmes. The landless youths can be provided land with support under different schemes for sustainable self employment.
The forest related employment activities can be generated for tribal youths in the locality. There is a need for improvement of production technology and quality of life in the rural habitations with availability of drinking water, electricity, communication, health, education, sports, cultural and entertainment centers.
During elections, youths are used by ruling parties for wrong political acts and used for political violence like booth capturing etc. The development works in rural areas are mostly controlled by mafias by misusing local youth power and private industries are using them as goons to suppress local people’s movement. The criminalisation of youth is a matter of concern. The flow of liquor, addiction, violence, discrimination, hate based on identity, pornography literature and video, bribe and tendency for earning easy money need to be discouraged among youth.
As alternative, youths should be inculcated with spirit of good citizenship by promoting constitutional values, human rights, dignity, scientific temper, democracy, tolerance, patriotic feeling, brotherhood, hard work, self help, non discriminatory attitude towards fellow beings which are highly required to change the social culture among the youths so that they become good human beings with civic sense and politically responsible citizens. They should not be encouraged as beneficiaries of welfare programme with free laptop, cycle and making grants for cultural activities in villages.
(The writer is a rights activist who can be reached at ojaabbsr@gmail.com)