Across the globe there is talk of massive influx of human
refugees into EU nations. Heart-rending images of the body of a 3-year-old kid
washed ashore in Turkey have been flashed by the Media across the world.
People seeking asylum have besieged Budapest in Hungary. Many
countries in the EU have been forced to take unprecedented measures to stop
this massive influx. When we look at the larger picture and try and understand
the reasons, we will realize that this was a human tragedy waiting to happen. Fawned
by political unrest in the Middle East, decades of poverty in Africa, genocide
like conditions being created by the Islamic State: all have contributed to
this flashpoint.
At the core of the problem is the inequitable growth across the
globe. The rich nations have grown richer while the not so prosperous nations
and their citizens have grown poorer. It is not only the monetary indicators,
which are defining the rich versus the poor debate. Other factors like freedom
vs oppression, health, sanitation and education are dictating the discourse.
Even the global economies where there is growth, it is not equal. All across
the world, the inequalities are becoming stark.
Herein lies the Indian Cauldron or rather the parallel. There
are hordes of immigrant labour, which throng the bigger cities in search of
employment and better living. The government has tried through schemes like
MNREGA to try and decrease this movement by promising some minimum employment.
But rather than this minimum employment resulting in improvement of
infrastructure and linkages to the mainland, the scheme has become more of a
dole to satisfy the constituents of the politicians.
There are large rural parts where even today there is no electricity, leave alone any other form of development, and these are not even remote, often they abut towns and prosperous villages but it seems they have been forgotten.
Why rural India? Walk to any Tier II and Tier III city in India
and there are just no jobs for the youth. If you study the demographics you
will find that the elderly population in these cities is increasing since the
youth tend to migrate towards the Tier I cities in search of jobs. This is
creating immense pressure on the basic infrastructure of the already “bursting
at the seams” Big cities. This internal immigration has to stop if we are not
to face a catastrophe.
The political leaders of all parties must realize this
immediately rather then engaging in one upmanship, before it is too late. The
youth is growing impatient, the recent violent demonstration in Gujarat, which
is considered to be one of the most peaceful and prosperous states, is just the
tip of the iceberg. Everywhere one travels in India, one will find well
educated youth either unemployed or doing jobs which have no correlation to
their educational background and skills.
Recently a qualified diploma mechanical engineer applied for the
job of a driver in our office, which not only shocked me but also forced me to
hang my head in shame at the country we are building. When quizzed why he
wanted a job of a driver, his reply was telling – he had not found a job for
more than a year and did not want to be a burden on his parents. We did not
employ him but found him employment as an engineer. And this is not an extreme
or isolated incident; you will find thousands of such examples.
We all must realize that if this continues then we are heading
for a flashpoint as has been seen in the EU immigration problem. Here I must
also highlight the irresponsible role being played by a certain section of the
Indian Media. One particular publication which is widely read, has almost 25%
of the paper devoted to “ blahblah.com gets $100 million, blacksheep.com valued at $1billion,
20 year old sets up a $10 million startup etc”. When one reads this
publication one feels that he/she has wasted his/her life compared to these so-called
millionaires and billionaires. Bombarding readers with these super success
stories, day in and day out, hides the fact that for every one of these new age
entrepreneurs who has made it, there are thousands who have failed.
They make it sound like Indian roads are paved with Dollars
waiting to be picked up. The youth of today inspired or rather misled by these
stories want to become millionaires and billionaires without any hard work or
trying to learn on the job. This leads to unreasonable expectations and creates
further unrest.
In our office we have had youngsters leaving the jobs because
they did not find enough glamour, or because they did not like the coffee or they
were asked to be properly dressed, etc. In our times we could not think of
staying without a job after our educations. These youngsters all belong to the “haves”
category, who have never seen any hardships and whose parents are willing to
foot all their bills – including an expensive but largely “useless” education!
Today there is so much dichotomy – those who have jobs do not
want to work and those who want to work have no jobs. And it has become a
serious issue!!!
We must all, in our own way, try and address these issues. As
parents we must tone down our kids expectations, as teachers we must teach our
students the value of hard work and learning, as youth we must realize that for
most there are no shortcuts to success, as leaders we must realize that we have
a larger responsibility to the society as a whole, as the media we must make it
a point to give a balanced view of life rather than highlighting just a few
blips and raising sky high “wrong” expectations of the youth.
If we all collectively do not address the issue of inequitable
social fabric in the country then we must all be prepared to face the
consequences. What is happening in EU today can very well be the story of India
tomorrow!
