3 Challenges for NextGen India

Our PM, Mr. Narendra Modi gave the Independence day speech from The Red Fort. He spoke about women empowerment, Poverty, make in India and many other issues. The focus was on macro level strategies to be implemented for a better future. Such kind of strategy is his responsibility . But we are facing some issues on a very micro level which is deteriorating the strength of our nation. These issues today may seem very minute or manageable, but after a few decades they may take a gigantic piece out of our strength and development. There is something very wrong going on at a very micro level i.e. individual level. These I have termed as the challenges that may come in front of the NextGen India i.e. India in 2020-2030. There are many such issues but we will discuss only 3. 

1. Brain Drain: The term is not new. Brain drain is the phenomenon to human capital's movement from it's home country to foreign country in search of better education, job opportunity or some other reason. So, why it is called brain DRAIN? Because in this process the home country (which in our case is India) looses a part of it's intellectual strength. Most of us think, it doesn't affect much, but the percentage of increase in brain drain over the last decade has started to cause concerns. 

In last decade i.e 2000-10, the number of people going abroad for job has quadrupled i.e increased 4 times and number of those going for education has increased 7 times. 80% of the people never return from their short trip to wonderland.  This rate of Brain Drain is really alarming. We should do something to reduce this, something at an individual level.  

What needs to be done is to raise our sense of responsibility towards our nation, state, home town, parents, etc. who have spent a lot of time, money and effort on our future. Yes, the quality of education and job prospects also needs to be improved. But, these things will happen only over a certain period of time. For now, we will have to trust and support our country. There is a very good dialogue in the movie Swades, "Apni chaukhat ka diya ... giving light to neighbour's house" meaning "The lamp on my doorstep ... is giving light to my neighbour's house" 

2. Education other than Science : Science is doing wonders right now. If you are not in Science, you are missing something big. That is why, India has the highest number of Engineering and Medical Colleges. India also leads in the number of Engineers and Doctors passing out of colleges each year. In a decade or so we will have Engineers and doctors in a number exceeding some country's population and this, will bring in the saturation and also the challenge of how to provide jobs to such a huge number of highly qualified professionals. Most of the students go for Engineering because they can't get in medical and engineering is the second best option for them. Why these two fields are the top priorities of our youth while going for graduation? Why not arts, literature, education, history, geography, philosophy, sports or languages. 

It's not like that other fields are do not have job opportunities, actually some of them have even better jobs then doctors & engineers, but still we don't see these fields as our first choice. May be because a degree of Engineering or a MBBS guarantees some income and that of a B.A, don't. May be because, when our parents tell our neighbours about our B.A degree, they are not as proud as they would be with a B.E degree. But, this thinking will cost us. Elevating the value of other fields of education is very important as a country needs all kind of graduates and in fairly equal number. The work has to be done at the very basic level i.e at school level. Importance of each field of education should be inculcated in children and then, they should be allowed to choose the field of their interest.

Literature is not written by doctors and Olympic medals are not won by Engineers.     

3. Morality : We can say that moral values are one of India's copyright. Moral values are engraved in our tradition and cultures, moral values such as honesty, respect for others, trust etc etc . are taught at a very early age in India. May be that is why we don't follow them when we grow up. The morality lessons are taught to us when we are least capable of understanding their importance and as we grow up, our understanding gets corrupted. In recent times the level of morality that has been showcased in India has created a bit of concern in my mind. How we can handle this? We are ready to get in conflicts with others over small traffic jam, Scams are getting bigger and bigger, jobs are getting described by the amount of bribe you can earn, we spend hundreds of bucks in movies and hesitate to donate a single penny, rapes are becoming a daily news, mid day meal of children is poisonous and many such other examples where our lack of morality is exhibited. 

These incidences are causing the faith in humanity to diminish. This faith keeps us together, it brings unity amongst us. Unity in diversity, this has been the so called first line of every essay on India. Do we really believe in it? We are fighting amongst each other for different states. If we can't stay together in a state how can we be united in a country. 

This generation has been around some of the saddest incidences in Indian History. I hope the great incidences will keep this generation together.