Youth: Builder of Change and Innovation

Youths

The United Nations uses the range of 15 to 24 years to define youth. The Indian government uses the same range to define youth for the implementation of various schemes under the central government.

Youths: Building Blocks of a Nation

The greatest resource for a country are their youths. It is the youths who will be holding the responsibilities of growth and development for a country. There is a huge role of youth in the process of nation-building. The steering of a better, advanced society lies in the hands of youth, because they possess immense energy and power mold with a perfect intelligence. Youths are thus the building blocks of a nation.

History: International Youth Day

The Portuguese government signed up with the United Nations to designate 12th August as International Youth Day. It is celebrated on this day to focus on the vital role that youth play in a society. It raises awareness about the numerous challenges and opportunities faced by the youth globally. It serves as a platform for collaboration to engage with these problems in a more meaningful way.

In India, the 12th August day is celebrated as National Youth Day in sync with the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. This day aims to inspire the youth of India to follow Vivekananda’s ideals and follow his given principles, which can help a youth to gain his full potential.

2024 Theme From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development Emphasizes the young population on adopting digital innovation. Rapid increase in use of the internet among the youth. Data inequality persists. The use of data is less in the low-income countries. Data is less accessed by women as compared to men. Youth are largely recognized as “Digital Natives,” using technology to drive change and create solutions. Celebrating the youth’s contribution to digital innovation helps in innovation and collaboration towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Indian Youths: An Extra Advantage

The Indian young population constitutes 59% of all Indians. The overall Indian population is still growing. India now holds the largest population on the planet, and it is expected to reach its pinnacle in the year 2059. The young population constitutes the demographic dividend: the working-age population, which outnumbers the non-working population. This is the biggest asset for a country to boost their economic growth by adopting forward-looking policies and programs to empower youth in terms of their education, skills, and health. However, if the demographic dividend is not equipped with the required knowledge, skills, etc., it could potentially become a burden and liability on the resources of a country. Schemes should be introduced so that the demographic dividend should not change into a demographic disaster through inclusive and developmental policies.

Various Disciplines Defines Youth As:

• Psychologists view youth as one of the long personal crisis and struggle with reactions.
  • For the psychologist, youth are adolescents: a stage that brings confusion, delinquent behavior, worry, confusion, etc.
• Educators also believe that youth have the above crisis and reaffirm the role of educational institutions to overcome the most fertile stage.
• Sociologists view youth in a wider context, from social issues to changes and in perspective to behavior.

Islamic Perspective on Youth

Islam cherishes the good characteristics of youth—well intention, good-heartedness, and piousness. The story of Al-Kahf is a renowned example where few men fled to a cave from the fear of persecution and refused to bow down before the falsified god. Emphasizing the young stage of one’s life, Allah says that it were the boys or young men (Al Kahf: 13).

In the Hadith, Ibn Abbas (r.a.) reported: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your free time before your work, and your life before your death.”

Islam nurtures the characteristics in a youth, which can potentially uplift the young towards the higher attainment of perfection. Given the fact that the young have the potential to learn and absorb things, it is the peer group and environment around him that nurture a young to follow the good characteristics or, on the contrary, the opposite of it.

Therefore, the period of youth is the period to cultivate virtue characteristics like piety, compassion, gratitude, wisdom, empathy, patience, etc. that can shine and lit the light of guidance tomorrow.

Written by: Aijaz Hussain