As there is a saying “Thousands of miles begin with a single step”, it is the youths who have always been successful in paving milestones in the world history. This single step has always been proved to be the encouraging factor for every youth to make possible contribution from their respective fields. What I believe in is that Youths are active, dynamic, prehensile, struggling and, thus, decisive force for transformation anywhere. Yes, when changes comes at all, its more credit goes to the young members as enthusiastic supporters of society rebelling against what they consider to be outdated and unfit for the society. They generate ideas as well as physical masses to bring about change in stagnant.
Whether it was a revolution of 1950-1951 for the establishment of democracy in Nepal or mass movement of 1990 for the restoration of democracy or recent Jana-Aandolan of 2062/2063 B.S. for institutionalizing Federal Democratic Republican Nation Nepal or no matter the French revolution of 1789, it was a remarkable contribution by the then youths. Besides, Youths are not a problem they are part of solution. The future of democracy lies in the creative role of youths. So, at first the wrong conception among the youths considering politics as a dirty game must be removed from their mind, politics in itself is not dirty act but the person who holds the power makes it different. In fact politics is where everyone is bound. Second the state must show its concern regarding the active participation of youths and encourage them to take the leading role. Third the youths must themselves move ahead to take over the leadership by realizing their rights and responsibilities.
Analyzing the history of Nepal, it is the youths who have played significant role in changing the existing structure through their remarkable contribution and struggle. Nepal is an independent, landlocked and sovereign nation having World's highest peak The Mount Everest, birth place of Lord Buddha, rich in cultural heritages, natural resources including brave, honest, patriotic and active youths who have always struggled a lot to establish Nepal as one of the most beautiful, prosperous, peaceful and developed country in the world by abolishing the exploitation of feudalism and imperialism, by pursuing the path of progressive development through the mobilization of peoples potentialities, skills and utilization of human and natural resources.
In my opinion, the active participation of youth is always necessary to run the country in the path of progress, prosperity and development. Youths are not less than any other group of people but what they lack is an opportunity. French emperor Napoleon I said, “Ability is nothing without opportunity.” The above mentioned line is true fact and no one can deny it because this fact can be eclipsed but not extinguished. So today's need is that various institutions and organizations such as schools, colleges, youth’s clubs and other associations must provide training ground for youths in order to enhance their potentiality and to exercise their leadership by considering social cleavages such as class, caste, ethnicity, religion and so forth. In this regard, the saying of U.S State Legislator, educator and U.S representative, Shirley Chisholm (1924) that “There is little place in the political schemes of things for an independent creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price” can be one of the great sources of inspiration.
Young people are resource but not a problem. Despite this fact, still question arises here how to utilize their knowledge and ability. That is why; time and again it is very essential to launch various activities among youths such as Educational Awareness Campaign for Social transformation, political and the student awareness campaign for socio-political consciousness and institutionalizing democratic republic. These steps also help youths to fight against the suppression, injustice and tyranny any more. Besides, they always encourage youths to utilize their knowledge and ability in the needed areas by creating the projects, research studies etc. Goals can never be achieved only by making rather its strict implementation counts so for this the certain way or particular direction must be followed. Even I realize that, to change others first of all, we need to bring change in ourselves.
Youth Federal Democratic Awareness Campaign aims to increase the active participation of young people in the life of their local, regional or national community or at international level by supporting their participation in the mechanisms of representative democracy. It is developed to increase the young people’s participation; improve ideas, experiences and methodologies or activities at local, regional, national or international level. It also allows the creation of new networks, the exchange and dissemination of good practice in the field of youth participation. The concept of active citizenship for young people implies full and complete participation in society, commitment and the ability to practice that citizenship.
As we know that “Though diamonds are composed of coals but the contradiction is that all the coals can’t be converted into diamonds, only those coals get transformed into diamonds which get proper amount of heat and pressure” so what I meant to state is that if the youths are offered with right opportunities, then it would obviously give birth to the (diamond) great leaders like Jr. Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bisheshwor Prasad Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, Mahatma Gandhi etc in the future. As youths are the pillars of nation, they must be given foremost priority in each and every issues and discussions so that they can share their views and suggest new policy for the smooth development of every sectors of nation. And to make this happen, Youth Federal Democratic Awareness Campaign is very important. What difference are we making, no matter big or small but what matters is how we are ending up with?
In the context of Nepal, we have been observing labor drain and brain drain as two great hindrances for the gradual development. On one hand, the well educated and able manpower are attracted towards the developed states like USA, Canada, Uk, Japan, Australia etc for employment opportunities, better life standard and education while on the other hand strong and skillful labor force are attracted towards the nations like Malaysia, Dubai, Qatar, Iraq etc in search of employment opportunities for their livelihood. Thus, this is one of the most critical situations of Nepal. Hence, all the civil societies, political parties, intellectuals, policy makers, must be concerned about addressing the problems and difficulties of Youths. Now, this is the great challenge for them to utilize both human resources and natural resources by creating such a platform or opportunities which would undoubtedly make guarantee of socio-economic, political, cultural rights of the citizens of the state. |
