For decades this society had fed its youth a diet of fear, insecurity, hopelessness and gloom. To grow up in such a climate of pessimism is not easy. It takes a toll on the psyche of large sections of our youth who do not have the good fortune of having parents guardians and teachers who can instill hope and confidence in them. Several bogeymen have been constructed by societal leaders in the past without thinking through the consequences of their own actions. Some of these very vocal student leaders are matured individuals today. They realize the folly of their actions. But some of those actions have had a devastatingly regressive impact on the economy of Meghalaya and in some cases they have cast a permanent slur on our society. The halting of the rail project is now causing the price of essential commodities to shoot through the roof.
Those youth who are sufficiently motivated have moved out of the mental prisons and are competing quite well not only with themselves but with their peers across the country. The thinking and grasp of the youths who are working and studying outside Meghalaya no longer resonates with those of their peers here. They former are busy pursuing their studies Those who are employed in the corporate sector have to meet grueling schedules. This leaves them with no time to ruminate on issues such as government jobs and the Inner Line Permit. For them the world is borderless and the best will survive while those who do not or cannot perform will perish. In Meghalaya most youths still believe it is their birthright to get a government job. Many simply do not want to exert themselves and find that the easiest route to earn money and respectability is to start an NGO and begin their journey of agitation on a host of issues. Ten years down the line these self styled youth leaders will join politics without having resolved any of the issues they had raised. This has been the defining trajectory of youth movements in Meghalaya. And it is society hat has created the space for such pressure groups to thrive. It is time for the people whose voices are often appropriated by these groups to assert the voice of reason because jingoism is a self-defeating agenda.