This quote has won my heart: “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” —Mother Teresa. Just look around, your eyes will fall on a youth or two indulging in stunts and over speeding on motor cycles on roads, throwing caution to the wind. The youth, it appears, fear nothing — legal or illegal; right or wrong; good or bad; useful or harmful. Thus displaying indiscipline, these young people jeopardize their lives; also of the people around.
Witnessing the frequent road accidents, involving the youth as the cause, are ascribed to stunts and speeding. A rough estimate reports that Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (JK UT) has around 29% youth aged between 15 and 29. Not only for the road accidents but also for the other alarming challenges, the passing of the buck in place of shouldering the onus by an individual does more harm than good. Road mishaps happen at an alarming rate in the UT. A report (2024) says that from January 01 to 30 June; 2,864 road accidents surfaced in various districts of J-K. 417 people were killed; 3,894 wounded.
Another menace is online gambling and betting. This new threat has far-reaching and devastating impact on the mental, emotional, physical and economic health of families. Debts mount, leading to bankruptcy in most cases. Despair, depression and conflicts haunt the youth and their families due to financial loss. The loss in the gambling sees savings vanish fast apart from birthing suicidal thoughts and actions in youth at times.
Recently, social media reported that a man from Baramullah lost 42 lakh rupees to online gambling; another one about 32 lakh. A man’s body was fished out in Pakistan; he had jumped into the Chinab River at Akhnoor in June 2024 following the loss of 80,000 rupees to online gambling. Worse, the gambling is easy to carry on at home or on the go aside from the fact that the gambler can hardly be discovered involved in this activity. One just needs a smartphone and the internet connection to navigate any website for the so called get-rich -quick prospects.
The abuse of drugs and its resultant impact is deeply disturbing. There is no short cut to dissuade the youth from this epidemic. Many a youth have passed away due to the substance abuse aside from bringing an irreparable financial loss to their families. There is no dearth of incidents where a drug user has sold property, borrowed loans and even committed suicide after facing reverses in meeting the mounting expenses caused through the drug abuse.
In addition, the substance abuse triggers ceaseless emotional agony and shames the family. So much so that the affected families, fearing social stigma, seek to sweep the tragedy under the carpet. In some cases, engagements and even marriages have broken up. Yet another blow, draining the family’s financial resources and bringing it disgrace.
In extreme cases, the youth bested by the addiction of online games and drug abuse drift away from studies and either end up as school drop outs or in jails—a colossal loss underscoring an urgent revisit of the educational, social and family background of the involved youth.
Without a doubt, educational institutions have a principal role in arresting the growth of online gambling and drug abuse. But, these institutions alone cannot impede the march of these massive challenges. Mere sermons, speeches, seminars and debates are not enough; we cannot make an omelet unless we break an egg.
Rational community members cannot continue to close their eyes to drug abuse and online gambling, two major issues looming large to push the entire humanity into the smithy of chaos and disharmony. One of the risk factors for drug abuse is feeling unattached to the community members.
Notably, parents must step in with a cooperative spirit and help turn the tables before the point of no return obtains. Telling youth to put down phones does make sense. But is not enough for the young people are born and grown up in the environment wherein these devices remain in their constant possession.
The situation can be turned around if media, religious leaders and the law apparatus work in tandem to take on the rising indiscipline drifting youth —seen as the present and future of society — away from contributing to the wellbeing of their families and the larger society . And contrary, the youth of today rise to the bait of online gambling, drug abuse and irrational driving. This all plunges them into the bottomless pit of ignorance, irrationality and irresponsibility. The end result — irreparable loss on multiple counts.
Laws are paramount for every society. But laws must apply strictly to tide over the aforesaid social threat affecting youth ruthlessly. A broad brush approach will be workable and apt here to weed out the burning issues in question. Leaving the root causes of the youth indiscipline unaddressed will do anything but put our house in order.
This begins with imparting social education at the formal institutions to teach thoughtfulness, not just thoughts: this will sensitize the present generation to show kindness to people and behave as responsible citizens. Secondly, the government needs to strive for developing internship programmes so that the educated youth do not seek purposelessly the jobs that are nonexistent.
Lastly, it is a must for all of us to understand those road accidents, drug abuse and online gambling menace — all are preventable provided everyone resolves to help combat them, not leave everything for the government to do. To that effect, round-the-clock commitment backed by progressive perspective is important. Compassion for fellow humans is the key. Mass awareness campaigns can prove helpful; Regardless of status, applying regulatory frameworks can tighten the noose without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
(Author is RK columnist and Teacher by profession. Feedback: [email protected])
