Arise, Awake and Stop Not till the Goal is Reached

Many of us, young people, today, live in cities and towns. We live in crowded settlements, but seldom interact with our neighbors. We commute many kilometers everyday to reach schools, universities and work, but we rarely care to visit our neighborhood outreach centre. We have big ambitions but we remain cocooned in myopic visions. We have immense potential but no initiative. Many, young city dwellers, in the developing world, have been brought up in the bustle of city life without access to good education, health, civic amenities and quality of environment. We remain unperturbed by the bedlam surrounding us and are complacent to the inefficiency of our systems. Do we plan to bequeath the chaos, which plagues our lives, to our children and their children? No! We have an important responsibility and a great opportunity to effect enormous change to the defunct systems we live in.

There are very many factors which may undermine our participation in urban development. These include heavy politicization of local bodies, lack of organized non-political youth associations, economic difficulties, poor parental patronage and inept education system. However, our ability to face all odds comes from within. Our strengths lie in our dynamism, unwavering will and above all our potent age.

It is high time, for us, to put forward a legitimate claim, a claim for a better future. We have a fairer advantage in technology than our predecessors, and we must pledge to make use of it to effect the right change. I wish to put forward a few proposals to help young people actively participate in building sustainable and livable urban dwellings. I will make a modest attempt to prove that that money is not the only solution for development.

I believe that the primary agenda of urban development should be creation of a healthy education system. Healthy education implants thought and inspires action. To begin with, I propose that a course on ‘Urban Awareness’ should be introduced as a core subject in all Universities, Colleges and Schools. This course should facilitate a hands-on learning process wherein young stakeholders will discuss and debate on all existing systems and proposed plans. This course can encourage young students to come up with fresh and practical solutions to the idiosyncratic problems they face in their localities. This enterprise will go a long way in developing a sense of responsibility from a young age.

Also, young university students can take charge to introduce classes on ‘sustainable living’ in underdeveloped neighborhoods. The students can target to teach women living in these areas. By educating mothers and grandmothers we were able to motivate their children, brothers, husbands and extended families. I believe, in this process, the college students will have a first hand experience of a responsible and healthy education.

Exploding vehicular traffic and consequent environment pollution are chronic problems affecting many cities in the developing world. An important cause for this is an inefficient public transport system. This again can be attributed to the red tape. However, student and young people can effectively help correct this problem. Students can assist the understaffed civic bodies to survey major routes having highest vehicular density, collect feedback from different segments of the society and research on alternatives in public transportation. The universities and colleges can award project credits to students who participate in such initiatives. I am aware of a research team which voluntarily advised the Chennai Metropolitan Transportation Corporation on ways to optimize fuel consumption and improve bus frequency. Monies saved from this economization can be employed to upgrade the services.

In order to improve vehicular traffic management, the civic authorities can partner with a team of students and operators of photocopy shops, public telephone centers, internet cafés, tea stalls etc (who are mostly young people) in building a mobile phone based traffic management network. These young people working/living in vantage points can feed a central database (by text messaging) on traffic conditions. The central database can in turn transmit the information through FM channels, Traffic Police Cops and Road Signs to the commuters on road. This could effectively curb the traffic snarls that have now unfortunately become an integral part of urban life.

The progress of several public projects is hampered by bureaucratic quagmire. In order to prevent this, young people can volunteer to offer independent project vigilance. At this juncture, I would like to recall how a group of young cricket enthusiasts have voluntarily organized themselves to oversee the progress of a small community sports complex project. This made contractors, involved in the construction, answerable not only to the municipal authorities, but also to the ultimate beneficiaries. The outcome of this initiative is that the complex has been built within an unprecedented time of eight months and now efficiently offers services to more than 2300 members. This team which oversaw the project in its construction stage has now shouldered the responsibility to monitor its maintenance and upkeep.

If we don’t budge now, we have a crisis waiting to happen soon. It is estimated that more than a billion join the world’s urban population in the next fifteen years. Are our current cities and towns capable of sustaining that? Let us pledge to change this fate and transform our cities and towns to incubate the minds of today and inspire the minds of tomorrow.

I wish to conclude citing a famous message of Swami Vivekananda “Arise, Awake and Stop Not till the Goal is reached”.