There are about eight billion people on Earth; each one is different in many aspects of life. They aren’t alike in appearance, culture, religion, caste, or colour. But one thing is common for all of them – dreams. The young dream is to be a free adult, and the old dream is to be young again. The poor dream to become rich. The rich dream to have peace of mind. Our dreams may be different, but they are all precious to us.
The essence of the dream is the most essential part. When a dream surpasses our selfish needs, it becomes a bright future. So, for a bright future, all our young minds need to dream and do so selflessly. “My hopes of the future lie in the youth of character, intelligent, renouncing all for the service of others,” remarked Swami Vivekananda, emphasising the importance of young minds. A house for oneself is a dream, but a housing complex for the poor is a need. Only when others’ needs become our dreams can the youngest country in the world achieve prosperity and progress.
To determine selfless dreams for the greater good, the youth need inspiring role models to follow. Who better to begin with than the father of our nation? Most of us remember Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as an old man only. But he was only twenty-three years old when he was thrown out of the train in South Africa. That brilliant youth decided to protest instead of accepting the racist norm. He invented the method of Satyagraha, which he held onto throughout his life, and it played an important role in uniting us for freedom. What if young Gandhi didn’t protest? What if he didn’t dare to dream of equality not only for himself but for the entire country? Young MK Gandhi became Mahatma Gandhi when he strived to dream of a better future for India. That’s why Swami believed that the future of India lies in the hands of the youth.
Merely keeping dreams to ourselves fulfils nothing; we need to do it. We need to work towards its accomplishment. “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, and live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success,” quoted Swami. Gandhi’s one idea was Satyagraha. What’s yours, and how does it help others?
That’s the question the youth needs to ponder. One such brilliant youth named Garvita Gulhati thought about the water left in glasses at restaurants and estimated the wastage to be about fourteen million litres annually. So, she started her own non-profit organisation called ‘Why Waste?’ in 2015, promoting restaurants that serve only half-filled glasses of water. Her efforts paved the way for reduced water wastage in big restaurants across India, which gave her the title ‘Water Girl of India’.
Hina Saifi is a young environmental activist who dreams of a sustainable future. She regards thermal power plants as the biggest problem, so she educated herself and others about greener alternatives. She uses various methods to inform the locals from villages, such as pamphlet distribution, public meetings, marches, door-to-door activities, and surveys. Her social activities led to many rooftop solar houses and faster adoption of environment-friendly solutions.
Another youth named Anand Kumar strived to educate underprivileged children because his father couldn’t afford private schooling for him. He coached poor children for JEE exams through his Super 30 program. For his social work, he was awarded Padma Sri and has inspired many to pursue engineering in IITs.
Varsha Raikwar from Bundelkhand found an innovative solution to climate change awareness. Realising that the radio was the best communication tool for the remote areas of Bundelkhand, she became a radio jockey, the first female one on that station. She started a show called Shubh Kal to educate the masses on how to tackle climate change. She taught organic farming and rainwater harvesting on the radio, encouraging the farmers in the area. She was selected for UN India’s ‘We The Change’ Campaign for her efforts.
Apart from the fields of climate change and education, many young talents in sports and entrepreneurship have become catalysts for social transformation. Manu Bhaker, the first Indian to grab two medals in a single Olympic game, is an inspiration for female youths to overcome hurdles and stereotypes in sporting events. By winning the first athletics gold at the Olympics, Neeraj Chopra showed us that nothing is impossible for our country in the Olympics. It was a young cricket team that won the World Cup in 1983, which paved the way for Indian domination in cricket fields today.
Deepinder Goyal was only twenty-three years old when he started Foodiebay, a platform that delivers food to our doorsteps. It made good food accessible to remote areas and gave a wider range of cuisine. That entrepreneurship grew to the infamous Zomato service. Likewise, many young Indians are behind Lenskart, Ola, OYO, and many others. Talented artists like Anand Ahuja and Gaurav Ogale uphold India’s grace in creative hubs. In total, the world is led by the young talents of India.
What do we learn from the inspiring stories? It’s simple, as Swami Vivekananda once said: “Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.” All these youths had a dream of their own. Each was unique and had a social angle– a catalyst for social change. This made their dreams a communal need. Realising their potential, these people strived against all odds and made their dreams bloom. When their dreams were accomplished, the entire society reaped its benefits, which is still ongoing.
India hosts the largest youth population in the world. Unfortunately, young people in our country are not encouraged to pursue their dreams but to get a good job and marry fast. That mindset needs to change first. Swami Ji told us that the younger generation would work out our country’s problems like lions. India would bolt towards prosperity if each youth achieved even half of their potential. So, let us remember that on National Youth Day this year, we should tell our youth to dream for social causes and work towards them. Let them achieve their power and divert it to communal development. Remember! Be it our freedom or the doorstep delivery, every change around us has the footprint of a young mind who dared to do for their dreams.
The article "From Dreamers to Doers: Youth Empowering Lives and Transforming Communities" has been chosen among the top ten articles in The Trailblazers 2025, a national-level article writing competition organised by Youthisthan Foundation to celebrate National Youth Day on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
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