Another Republic Day....
Time for yet another retrospective...
The youth of the nation is having the opportunities like never before.
Work hard...get into a premier management institute, preaching patriotism among other things in the group discussions and draw a 5 digit pay packet for practicing just the opposite!
We should have more such institutes......100s of them......
We have truly gone global, children in our schools have started shooting down those for whom they have developed a dislike.....thanks Bollywood....
The National Defence Academy, the premier training institute for future officers of the Indian Armed Forces had its lowest intake in many years;197, when the average intake is 300 per course.
We, Indians are becoming more and more peace loving.......
Hats off parents.....for bringing up children with a distinct dislike for the war games, non-virtual.
About Rs 8,200 is what a newly commissioned officer gets paid after four-and-a-half years of rigorous training and compare that to what Class 12 students who operate from the air conditioned call centers earn every month......patriotism won't bring you the luxuries in life.......the younger generation is clever enough.
In spite of all that, there are a few young men who think of the armed forces as their true calling. They just turn their back on the lucrative jobs, often defying their parents to undergo three years of training at the NDA to become officers and gentlemen.
Captain R Harshan, a member of the Indian Army's elite Special Forces unit was one such man, having had dropped out of his Engineering Degree course to join the NDA. He lost his life fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in March 2007, he was 25 years old.
His sad, yet proud Father receiving the Ashok Chakra, the nation's highest honour for gallantry in peacetime, was one of the most poignant scenes on this Republic Day.
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8 comments:
That was a pretty succinct, but deeply poignant introspection of the opportunities of the youth, sir. But, I beg to disagree with some points.
* "Armed Forces had its lowest intake in many years;197" : Close to 15000 people apply for NDA every year. The number of applicants has, as far as I know, remained same all through these years. Still the intake has reduced. Does that signal a lack-of-skill set?
* "About Rs 8,200 is what a newly commissioned officer gets paid..." Going by your credo, sir, salary is not the only stimulant to take up a job. You, of all, should well know that there is something called 'Job Satisfaction'. Among the odd-197 candidates who pass out, not a single person would have joined the army out of monetary issues. Besides, getting a call-center job itself needs its skills, however minimal they are. A rustic villager, who with his daunting physique, may qualify the NDA but might not be able to converse in the queen's language with fluency!
Awesome post, to cut a long comment short! :D
(Do read this post of mine detailing the life and times of a hapless B.Tech student and comment if you may.)
Well sir, there are a few points I wish to disagree with. First of all, I cannot fully agree with your definition of who a patriot is. Most of us, unfortunately, have textbook ideals about patriotism. A patriot is one who takes up a career in the armed forces, fights militants in J & K, and well, lays down his life for the country. I am NOT belittling them, but with all due respect I do disagree with the notion that patriots are to be found in the armed forces alone!!
Each and every Indian who works honestly for his living, pays his taxes, votes responsibly and abides by the law is, in my point of view, an unsung patriot.
First of all, if a country doesn't have an economic fabric strong enough to support it's armed forces, then it simply cannot defend itself. India's defence budget for the present financial year stands at a staggering 1,12,695.8 crores, with a projected increase of 7 to 8 % every year. Where does this money come from? It materializes because there are hundreds of thousands of men and women who work hard in the fields, streets, mineshafts, windowless cubicles, dusty file-piles and yes, plush air conditioned offices. Another good part of this money flows in because of the millions of NRIs who work in far away places, separated from their loved ones for the most part, and send home the money or invest it. Is it advisable or even just, to say that these others do not contribute a thing to defending the nation? They do earn for themselves, yes, but don't they at least invisibly bring prosperity to the country? Well, maybe they do not actually wield guns but it is their sweat which enables India to buy those bullets!!
The truth is that many do not take up callcenter and software jobs simply for the money. It is just that these are the jobs which are available. At 20, every young man worth his salt wants to serve the nation. Very few would be materialistic enough to think about money when considering a defence job. It is just that few can meet the stringent requirements and conditions. As for young women in the armed forces, their purpose seems to me just slightly more than cosmetic and no, there just aren't enough opportunites.
Of course, it is rather fashionable these days to say that call center jobs and 'software culture', whatever that is, is corrupting the youth and that no contribution to nation building is made by them. But there are a few questions the critics must honestly answer at least to themselves...
1. How many job vacancies are announced in the Government / Defence sector each year? How many of these are merit based?
2. How do these numbers compare with the number of graduates each year?
3. If there were no software/ call center jobs, would the number of jobs in the government sector increase to absorb the surplus?
4. If the numbers don't increase, what happens to the rest? Do they stay jobless as 'unemployed patriots'?
And there is one more point I wish to make - this about India's culture getting eroded. Wouldn't it be a mistake to refer to culture as something static and belonging to the past? Culture is the sum total of a nation's collective psyche - a reflection of their feelings, thoughts, way of life and so on. It does not and must not remain static. We often hear talk about India's culture being based on a wide variety of things - including Hindutva, Chaaturvarnya, ahmisa, National consciousness, plurality, diversity and on and on and on....
Unfortunately, however much we might love them to be the bases, I personally feel that they just are not! The foundations of any culture lie in basic needs of the human mind - the need for companionship / love, the need to belong to a community, the need to communicate/articulate, the need for ensuring the continuity of life, the need to believe in a higher power so as to explain life etc. Cultures evolve out of these very simple needs, weaving a fabric of traditions, myths, customs, stories, philosophies and belief systems around these. As long as men can think, all these will persist. And as long as time exists, this fabric will continue to change. Just as Sati, Polygamy and Untouchability faded away so will, in due course, the caste system, dowry system and female foeticide. But we can't have the cake and eat it too - to use a cliche! Along with these, the ideals of ahimsa, the sanctity of matrimony and the sense of duty to one's mata-pita-guru too, will fade away. That is how the universe works, and has worked so far and will work in the future. Of course, India is far more tenacious than other cultures in resisting change. However, slowly but surely, the change will come. For good or bad is subjective. The universe, afterall, is ever expanding and ever changing. Nothing we can do about it!
I've neither defined culture nor patriotism here!
And I'm neither a patriot nor do I have great regard for the stinking stuff that we call the great Indian Culture.....please don't try to impose them upon me........
I just felt like writing down those words after seeing in the DD News, the Fathers of a few fallen soldiers receiving the honours on behalf of their martyred Sons.
And speaking of 'skill sets', these days almost any skill can be 'Mechanically' imparted by 'crash' programs! Don't tell me that the guys who get admission for the prestigious IIMs by topping the CAT are India's best business brains.
And on 'software culture' corrupting the youth...who cares?!
Each person is responsible for his/her life..and must have the freedom to do what she/he wants to do with it. Today's youth is tomorrow's parents, only thing to remember is not to change your rhetoric once the roles are changed, I mean try to remain young at heart forever and be prepared to accept the changes :-)
Ho well, it was more a means of self expression rather than a very succintly put comment. In fact, the myriad posts on the net about patriotism, culture and indian youth set me off. sorry about the tirade.
by the way, as an aside, i am not as young as you suppose :-)
I am every bit the high-strung, tiresome and jaded parent who has to raise two kids - one 13 and the other 10.
however, when i was a young twenty-something thing, i did champion patriotism and indian culture as the book defines them. it is those terribly self-willed kids, nephews and nieces of mine who changed my rhetoric.
:-)
:-)
But is it really terrible, to have self-willed people around?
From a totally frazzled parent's point of view, it CAN be a terrible headache.
A couple of decades before, my parents easily got away with "Because I say so!" when I questioned them about a decision. Now, my daughter would, without batting an eyelid, give me a sermon on mutual accountability in a parent-child relationship if I even thought of trying that way out!!
Well, when I was ten, I damn well couldn't even spell M-U-T-U-A-L let alone A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y !!!
So there, it can be terrible having to manage self-willed people.
But, on the other side, it is extremely welcome because they are quite mature for their age and are able to understand my issues too. All the same, I do secretly wonder how far 'self-willed' will get them once they take the route all Indian girls are expected to take - marriage. I suppose that headache is still a long, long time away!
I understand the last sentiment would raise eyebrows since I have put all my confidence in our youngsters BUT you must make allowances for a parent!
I'm not someone who's into parenting and may not be the right person to comment on the same. Yet I feel that a new generation parent should be prepared to float with the times. The headache that you refer to- the so called institution of marriage- may not have the same relevance in the future society and hence may not be quite a headache for the future parents..
And being 'self-willed' doesn't mean that one can't get along well with others.....
Well, I certainly hope - though I know it's hoping against hope, that the institution of marriage doesnt lose its significance quite so fast! Let's give it a couple of generations more...
- Nanda
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