Locating Youth in India

The Perspective of Viksit Bharat 2047

Abstract

A segment of society leaving childhood and marching towards adulthood may be termed as Youth in the simplest form. The present and future of any country are determined by its energy level of action and thought, as well as spontaneously, all these are embodied in the Youth in general. On 21 November 2024, PM Modi launched ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’, a comprehensive vision plan to transform India into a developed nation. He particularly focused on the role and potential of the youth. He encouraged the people of the country to motivate young minds to think and work on this dream. This paper is a modest attempt to decode the ‘Youth’ term from the traditional Indian text point of view at first. Besides, this paper will talk about the depth of possibility of how far Indian Youth are capable of reaching the Viksit Bharat goal by 2047 while analyzing various National Youth Policies from 1988 to 2021. Though India owes sixty-six percent of its demographic strength below the age of thirty-five years, there need for research-oriented and goal-oriented programmes and strategies to explore Youth dynamism to the maximum.  Descriptive and analytical methodology coupled with interviews and observations has been used to examine the ground reality of the Youth’s political role in the Indian democratic structure. This paper points out the major challenges that Youth face in the realisation of their full capabilities. In conclusion, some recommendations have been provided, especially focusing on the active, one-to-one, and empathetic role of higher educational Institutions’ teachers for their students.