Youth need a healing touch
Syed Mustafa Ahmad
Youth is the most decisive phase in human life, representing the critical link between the dependence of childhood and the frailty of old age. While childhood is marked by incomplete understanding and old age by declining energy, youth represents the best combination of physical strength, mental growth, and creative ability.
This group largely determines how society progresses. India rightly sees its young population as a “Demographic Dividend”—a large pool of human power that can reshape the country’s economic and social structure, provided the right opportunities and supportive conditions exist.
This idea applies equally to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir, who have repeatedly shown their ability to adapt and succeed even under difficult political and social conditions.
However, the current situation on the ground tells a deeply troubling story. Instead of using their abilities for constructive development, many young people find themselves directionless, caught in cycles of drug abuse and moral decline. This steady loss of human potential stems from several interconnected causes that demand serious study and corrective action.
Unemployment is the main structural barrier affecting youth development. The lack of meaningful work turns energetic young citizens from potential assets into social liabilities. Countless educated young people move from one office to another holding degrees that have lost their value in a tight job market.
A mix of social, political, and economic factors has left this once-energetic workforce increasingly inactive, casting a dark shadow over the region’s development prospects. Unemployment is not just about economic hardship; it is a deep personal crisis that damages self-worth and creates conditions where frustration can turn into extremism.
Corruption has become the biggest obstacle to the dreams of young people. The repeated violation of merit-based selection processes has left deserving candidates deeply disappointed. When educational qualifications no longer connect to job opportunities, the whole purpose of academic effort breaks down.
This problem is especially sharp in Jammu and Kashmir’s traditional social setting, where education is narrowly seen only as a path to government employment—a limited view that rejects other career options and makes those who work outside government socially invisible.
The continuation of traditional social attitudes makes these problems much worse. Young people trying to build independent livelihoods through business face constant social criticism, administrative hurdles, and deep-rooted cultural opposition.
In traditional Kashmiri society, only a government job marks a person as properly settled; business ventures, creative work, and private sector employment rank much lower in the social order. This cultural stiffness kills new ideas, discourages risk-taking, and keeps young people dependent on an already overloaded government sector.
Equally harmful is the display of wealth by employed youth, which creates social tension and mental distress among those without jobs. When settled individuals show off luxurious lifestyles without any sense of social duty, they unintentionally widen existing gaps and fuel harmful competition.
The unwillingness to support others beyond one’s own family points to a deeper moral failure—if people cannot help each other at the local level, wider progress remains an empty dream.
Besides this, the mental health problems of young people remain largely ignored in current policies. The combination of joblessness, social pressure, and an uncertain future has caused widespread mental suffering—depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide—that stays hidden beneath public discussion. The shame attached to mental illness prevents young people from seeking help, worsening their pain in silence while reducing their ability to contribute.
Fixing this many-sided crisis requires complete and multi-level action across different areas. Government efforts must go beyond mere promises to create real livelihoods through changes in industrial policy, skill training programs, and support for new businesses. At the same time, society must push for deep cultural change—broadening what counts as respectable work, celebrating different career paths, and creating mental health support systems for struggling youth.
The education system needs urgent rethinking. Rather than treating education merely as job training, we must bring back its larger purpose of building well-rounded human beings capable of clear thinking, ethical judgment, and useful contribution regardless of employment status. Families must change from judgmental spaces into supportive environments where failure becomes a chance to learn rather than a reason for social rejection.
We have often made the mistake of watering branches while ignoring roots—attending to surface problems while overlooking root causes. The real source of today’s crisis lies in our collective mindset: our attachment to material things, our acceptance of corruption, our rigid social rankings, and our failure to build true community. Until we tackle these basic issues, policy measures will only offer temporary relief, not lasting solutions.
The gap between young people and society keeps growing even as technology shrinks physical distances. We have built impressive buildings but failed to build strong personalities. We have mastered the art of non-stop talk but forgotten how to truly listen—especially to the silent pain of young people whose dreams have collapsed before their eyes. Applying a healing touch to these fresh wounds is not just a policy need but a deep moral duty. We cannot afford to be hard-hearted when an entire generation’s future hangs in the balance. The healing must come now—full, caring, and firmly committed to restoring hope among the young and channelling their energy toward building a better society.
(The author is a teacher by profession)
