From cleaning trash to reforming politics What do the recent initiatives of young people say ?
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Joyson Khumukcham
The rise in the collective engagement of young people in productive and creative activities is something we cannot ignore in recent times. In Imphal, from voluntary acts of cleaning up filthy public places to running and health clubs, from creating informative contents online to target campaigns here and there, young people are seen being engaged in numerous collective and creative activities on a regular basis.
Either for personal benefits or common wellbeing, or both, such trends say a lot which is far more than the obvious act in which they are engaged. When For Better Kangleipak (FBK), a youth-led initiative, organizes voluntary cleanups in public places or community welfare programs, it is more than an act of social service. When Team195bpm, a running club in Imphal, organizes weekly runs of different types, it is much more than a group activity for health. When Manipur Youth League (MAYOL) organizes poster campaigns and public meetings for meaningful voting as well as proper conduct of elections, it is much more than a typical awareness campaign. These youth initiatives carry a cooperative strength, one that can overcome issues and challenges in the hope of creating a better society.
The varied activities reflect a deeper ambition of today’s young people to collectively build a healthy culture or renew the old ones through efforts from different aspects. It tells a lot about how young people act in spaces where they can make meaningful contributions. There is no need to evaluate which of such activities is instantly important for the society. The efforts are significant in their own ways, making diverse contributions to the overall community life. However, we should look at the prevailing conditions, systems, and practices that calls for the need of such initiatives, and what potentials the latter hold.
For a better environment
The initiatives for conserving and keeping our environment clean and unharmed can be seen in the efforts of various individuals, clubs, and organizations. Collaborative activities among local clubs, institutions, and public authorities are also seen here and there. Initiatives of youth such as For Better Kangleipak and Zero Waste Kakching are consistently conducting cleanup activities at various places along with public messages. While all these efforts are appreciable, the conditions that call for such initiatives in the first place is what we must look into.
Just as there are sections of people who pick up trash out of personal and environmental concerns, there are still people who pollute the environment without any second thought. Pollution is not simply about the presence of harmful or unwanted elements in our physical environment; it is equally a moral and management issue that has serious consequences. Moral failure takes place at the individual or community level when people basically do not care about where they should or should not litter. Management failure takes place at the institutional level when relevant authorities could not make proper arrangements to manage the byproducts of human activities.
When one simple act of dropping snacks cover or a plastic water bottle on the roadside is done nonchalantly by many people, it eventually turns into a polluted space in no time. Our education or society in general does not explicitly teach us about our personal and collective responsibilities. Schools teach us facts mostly through books with less experimentation of how we should handle things in real life.
A whole year of classroom lessons and a one-day tree-plantation program or a cleanup drive, is not effective enough to make young people learn about the importance of conserving the environment. Only when such activities are enforced as a regular and practical exercise that is to be lived with in the everyday life, only then can the lessons become effective.
Until we build a culture that makes individual accountable for the consequences of their personal actions on the shared environment, and unless our efforts are directed towards the source of the problem, we will keep staying in a vicious cycle of bootless efforts.
For a healthy community
Another engagement of young people is through fitness communities which many are building through different forms of hobbies, sports, and physical exercises. The increasing trend of going to gyms, doing calisthenics, aerobics, yoga, or other forms of physical workouts are overall productive. It benefits not only personal health but also inspires many to do any physical exercise that suits their health goals.
Running clubs, cycling teams, and sports enthusiasts are keeping young people active. These engagements are all the more important in a region that has its share of political violence and social instability. There can be huge mental pressure, anxiety, stress, and trauma among young people while trying to survive and struggle in such environment. Harmful drugs and substances can pull in many of them and destroy their lives. In such environment, young people coming together, building communities, and engaging in collective activities is quite appreciable. Such communities and initiatives have a potential to go further into other structural issues that young people are commonly facing today.
For a better politics
The representation of young people as prominent figures in formal politics, especially in legislative bodies have remained somewhat low. This is not just about Manipur, but a general picture at the global level. However, they continue being active political actors with dynamic forms of engagements – protests, rallies, demonstrations, solidarity gestures, etc.
In Manipur, since the 2023 ethnic conflict, many sections of young people have come up to participate in various capacities. Remarkably, Youth of Manipur (YOM) was able to mobilize many young people from various parts of the valley for accountability campaigns and meetings with the MLAs demanding certain points. At the same time, Manipur Youth League (MAYOL) has emerged as a youth-led organization with specific ambitions to change the political behavior of the people, with particular focus on renewing the practices of electoral politics. There are also many other youth groups who have contributed largely to the needs of the community.
While these are commendable initiatives from young people in various capacities, there are still certain roles which the present generations of young people can take up. One of them is the need for series of regular public conventions and conferences of young people to come together from all walks of life and communities, and discuss certain collective agenda and shared issues. Such concerns need to be channelized and highlighted in a proper and effective manner, otherwise they remain sidelined and neglected amidst the larger “core issues”. These young people should also try to shape the contents of the political discourse from their perspective and living experience, rather than getting lost in the dominant discourses.
For a better system
Young people in every generation have their defining activities or collective experiences. For today’s youth, both physical and virtual interactions have become a part of their lives. They live in a globalized and interconnected society with instant exposure to any phenomenon taking place around the world. Their aspirations and values have become different from the older generations, and this calls for a review in the existing scheme of political, economic, and social systems.
Through communities, clubs, and groups, young people should therefore continue to come together to talk about all kinds of issues they are encountering. When the existing institutions cannot provide a response or participation mechanism meaningful to the youth, they start seeking for alternative platforms or methods where they feel like they are doing something for themselves. This conscious effort is not necessarily to compete with anybody, but to assert the very concerns that the existing system has produced, and which are constantly affecting them.
Young people cannot keep avoiding the structural problems that make their lives difficult. Whether be it through cleaning the environment, reforming the political behavior, or engaging in community welfare programs and many more, young people should keep finding or creating ways to address, resolve, and build a better system together. Collaboration, coordination, and co-operation are essential in the process.
It will take time, but collectively and creatively, young people can do this given their energy and enthusiasm.
The writer is a Research Scholar in the Department of Political Science, Manipur University and can be reached at [email protected]
The rise in the collective engagement of young people in productive and creative activities is something we cannot ignore in recent times. In Imphal, from voluntary acts of cleaning up filthy public places to running and health clubs, from creating informative contents online to target campaigns here and there, young people are seen being engaged in numerous collective and creative activities on a regular basis.
Either for personal benefits or common wellbeing, or both, such trends say a lot which is far more than the obvious act in which they are engaged. When For Better Kangleipak (FBK), a youth-led initiative, organizes voluntary cleanups in public places or community welfare programs, it is more than an act of social service. When Team195bpm, a running club in Imphal, organizes weekly runs of different types, it is much more than a group activity for health. When Manipur Youth League (MAYOL) organizes poster campaigns and public meetings for meaningful voting as well as proper conduct of elections, it is much more than a typical awareness campaign. These youth initiatives carry a cooperative strength, one that can overcome issues and challenges in the hope of creating a better society.
The varied activities reflect a deeper ambition of today’s young people to collectively build a healthy culture or renew the old ones through efforts from different aspects. It tells a lot about how young people act in spaces where they can make meaningful contributions. There is no need to evaluate which of such activities is instantly important for the society. The efforts are significant in their own ways, making diverse contributions to the overall community life. However, we should look at the prevailing conditions, systems, and practices that calls for the need of such initiatives, and what potentials the latter hold.
For a better environment
The initiatives for conserving and keeping our environment clean and unharmed can be seen in the efforts of various individuals, clubs, and organizations. Collaborative activities among local clubs, institutions, and public authorities are also seen here and there. Initiatives of youth such as For Better Kangleipak and Zero Waste Kakching are consistently conducting cleanup activities at various places along with public messages. While all these efforts are appreciable, the conditions that call for such initiatives in the first place is what we must look into.
Just as there are sections of people who pick up trash out of personal and environmental concerns, there are still people who pollute the environment without any second thought. Pollution is not simply about the presence of harmful or unwanted elements in our physical environment; it is equally a moral and management issue that has serious consequences. Moral failure takes place at the individual or community level when people basically do not care about where they should or should not litter. Management failure takes place at the institutional level when relevant authorities could not make proper arrangements to manage the byproducts of human activities.
When one simple act of dropping snacks cover or a plastic water bottle on the roadside is done nonchalantly by many people, it eventually turns into a polluted space in no time. Our education or society in general does not explicitly teach us about our personal and collective responsibilities. Schools teach us facts mostly through books with less experimentation of how we should handle things in real life.
A whole year of classroom lessons and a one-day tree-plantation program or a cleanup drive, is not effective enough to make young people learn about the importance of conserving the environment. Only when such activities are enforced as a regular and practical exercise that is to be lived with in the everyday life, only then can the lessons become effective.
Until we build a culture that makes individual accountable for the consequences of their personal actions on the shared environment, and unless our efforts are directed towards the source of the problem, we will keep staying in a vicious cycle of bootless efforts.
For a healthy community
Another engagement of young people is through fitness communities which many are building through different forms of hobbies, sports, and physical exercises. The increasing trend of going to gyms, doing calisthenics, aerobics, yoga, or other forms of physical workouts are overall productive. It benefits not only personal health but also inspires many to do any physical exercise that suits their health goals.
Running clubs, cycling teams, and sports enthusiasts are keeping young people active. These engagements are all the more important in a region that has its share of political violence and social instability. There can be huge mental pressure, anxiety, stress, and trauma among young people while trying to survive and struggle in such environment. Harmful drugs and substances can pull in many of them and destroy their lives. In such environment, young people coming together, building communities, and engaging in collective activities is quite appreciable. Such communities and initiatives have a potential to go further into other structural issues that young people are commonly facing today.
For a better politics
The representation of young people as prominent figures in formal politics, especially in legislative bodies have remained somewhat low. This is not just about Manipur, but a general picture at the global level. However, they continue being active political actors with dynamic forms of engagements – protests, rallies, demonstrations, solidarity gestures, etc.
In Manipur, since the 2023 ethnic conflict, many sections of young people have come up to participate in various capacities. Remarkably, Youth of Manipur (YOM) was able to mobilize many young people from various parts of the valley for accountability campaigns and meetings with the MLAs demanding certain points. At the same time, Manipur Youth League (MAYOL) has emerged as a youth-led organization with specific ambitions to change the political behavior of the people, with particular focus on renewing the practices of electoral politics. There are also many other youth groups who have contributed largely to the needs of the community.
While these are commendable initiatives from young people in various capacities, there are still certain roles which the present generations of young people can take up. One of them is the need for series of regular public conventions and conferences of young people to come together from all walks of life and communities, and discuss certain collective agenda and shared issues. Such concerns need to be channelized and highlighted in a proper and effective manner, otherwise they remain sidelined and neglected amidst the larger “core issues”. These young people should also try to shape the contents of the political discourse from their perspective and living experience, rather than getting lost in the dominant discourses.
For a better system
Young people in every generation have their defining activities or collective experiences. For today’s youth, both physical and virtual interactions have become a part of their lives. They live in a globalized and interconnected society with instant exposure to any phenomenon taking place around the world. Their aspirations and values have become different from the older generations, and this calls for a review in the existing scheme of political, economic, and social systems.
Through communities, clubs, and groups, young people should therefore continue to come together to talk about all kinds of issues they are encountering. When the existing institutions cannot provide a response or participation mechanism meaningful to the youth, they start seeking for alternative platforms or methods where they feel like they are doing something for themselves. This conscious effort is not necessarily to compete with anybody, but to assert the very concerns that the existing system has produced, and which are constantly affecting them.
Young people cannot keep avoiding the structural problems that make their lives difficult. Whether be it through cleaning the environment, reforming the political behavior, or engaging in community welfare programs and many more, young people should keep finding or creating ways to address, resolve, and build a better system together. Collaboration, coordination, and co-operation are essential in the process.
It will take time, but collectively and creatively, young people can do this given their energy and enthusiasm.
The writer is a Research Scholar in the Department of Political Science, Manipur University and can be reached at [email protected]