Youth's Role in Achieving SDGs Through Selfless Contributions

Youth's Role in Achieving SDGs Through Selfless Contributions

“With Global Warming at its peak and where, creed, sex, and religion still divide, Can our youth take any initiatives and break all existing barriers, to help society thrive.”

The cliche that any nation is run by a young population is a cliche for a reason since the youth participate in various social, political, and economic events more actively than the older or the younger generation. Hence, youth have a huge responsibility upon their soldiers because of the morals they emulate, the causes they fight for and the manner they excel will leave ever-lasting footprints for the younger generation to follow. Measures are being taken across the globe to meet seventeen sustainable development goals adopted and this article will look into the role that should be played by today’s youth in achieving the same.

I recently saw a reel featuring Inspector Than Sen, a police inspector in Delhi, who after his duty hours, organizes free classes for children. He inspires them to study, work hard, and make sure that they can build a better life for themselves. Since he has come out from the slums and stood tall, earning a government job all upon his own merit, he wants his children to do the same since he strongly believes that education is extremely important for achieving a place in life. To date, his school has more than a hundred children who have been successfully enrolled in government schools by him.

I personally know a middle-aged security guard in my locality who has built a small library by collecting old books. Sometimes, he even gives free tuition to students in need in order to empower them to lead a better life. Being middle-aged and that too a security guard, if he could bring such a positive change in society, then the youth who currently have abundant resources owing to the internet, can do the same as well.

Among the 17 sustainable development goals, the fourth is quality education. Now, our youth can take inspiration to educate at least one child. If every person decides to change one life, then we can increase the literacy rate of India and eventually contribute to building up a bigger and better nation. Many in their early twenties take up a job. With a minute portion of their salary, if they can enroll at least one child in a government school, then the sustainable goal of quality education can be achieved.

Nowadays, many colleges, mine being one of them, make it compulsory for students to undertake some sort of social activity during their course, the most common being teaching village children. The youth, in my opinion, should continue to take this initiative in order to build a bigger and better world. The fourth sustainable goal is education- and today’s youth, if nothing, can at least donate their old books to a library or give them to their helper’s children.

Now, my friend told me about a Zomato Delivery Guy, who fed hundreds of children and this entire initiative began with canceled orders. As per Zomato’s policies, a delivery guy can take all the orders that get canceled by the customers. Instead of consuming those orders by himself, he started giving them to those in need. He inspired his friends as well to join the cause, and together they could feed many empty stomachs.

The second sustainable development goal is zero hunger and today’s youth can play a vital role in eradicating hunger. Today’s youth can take inspiration from him and save a little portion of their food to feed someone in need. Privileged youngsters these days are too much into junk and alcohol, and waste food just because they are paying for it, depriving millions in need. If not anything else, today’s youth should realize that not every person has the privilege of having a square meal a day, and in this scenario, the last thing they should do is waste food. This small yet mindful habit can leave a lasting impact.

Swami Vivekananda had said that we should definitely learn from other’s good deeds, absorb them but perform them in our own way. He also said that if money helps one to do good to others, it is of value else is evil. In the above paragraphs, after observing so many people who have contributed to society in their own way, our youth can definitely take inspiration to contribute in their own way and also keep aside a small portion of their money for the greater good of society.

Article 51A(g) of the Indian Constitution says that every citizen has the fundamental duty to protect and conserve the environment. Even sustainable development goals 11 and 15 state the need for establishing cities that are sustainable and stress the need to protect life on land, respectively. I once came across the story of a twenty-one-year-old boy Mahar Kambale, who was shocked to see the amount of plastic accumulated in Juhu Beach in Mumbai and was on a mission to clean up the Juhu Beach just like the beaches in Bali. With a group of friends, they pulled up their socks and got to work. After one week of cleaning the plastic, the Beach went back to its original state, which was a week before. But these boys stuck to their mission and over a while were able to remove 9000 tonnes of waste.

Swami Vivekananda said that when any idea occupies the mind, it eventually transforms into reality. This is exactly what happened with Mahar and his friends, which significantly contributed to cleaning the environment and building a sustainable community. If today’s youth take the smallest of initiatives like at least throwing waste materials in their right places, these little conscious practices can leave a lasting impact on the environment. Apart from that, today’s youth, when they decide to build their own startup, can adopt sustainable practices and maintain a balance between economic development and environmental protection.

Now, we know that inequalities have existed for centuries, and even in this decade, we cannot say that these inequalities have ceased to exist despite the woke culture. Once a couple of transgender women had started their own cafe with the hope that they would finally be free from the shackles of beggary. When they posted on Instagram advertising the same, people in comments gave them immeasurable hatred and pledged never to visit their cafe.

Our youth has to play a pivotal role in including transgender people in mainstream society. The older generation is too orthodox for this and the younger generation does not have that cognitive ability. So, it’s upon the youth to spread awareness and compassion among different human beings in order to uphold inclusive values. It’s a positive change that we are finally recognizing and accepting the LGBTQ community, but this journey should go on and only the Youth can carry that out.

Manual scavenging, although illegal still prevails, where these manual scavengers aren’t given any exit opportunities. Menstruation still remains a taboo and many women in rural areas still do not have access to proper sanitary products nor do they have awareness of menstrual hygiene. Alimony has become a weapon to torture innocent men and dowry still exists in the guise of gifts. Women still don’t feel safe at night, there are some children who is sexually assaulted, and some women who top the headlines and trigger a candle march upon being brutally raped and murdered.

In this light, the primary responsibility of the youth is to develop ethical, moral, and compassionate values so that at least the youth population isn’t perpetrating social evils and crimes. Men have the responsibility to respect women and not view them as sex toys. Women also have a corresponding duty not to weaponize the laws made to protect them. These values should begin at home where all three genders belonging to the youth population are self- sufficient- both in terms of finances and handling household responsibilities. If our youth can carry forward these values, and contribute to social change while excelling in their careers, sustainable development goals 5,8,10, and 16, which talk about gender equality, decent economic opportunities, reducing inequalities, and building strong and peaceful institutions respectively, can eventually be achieved.

In the concluding paragraph, I would like to say that Swamiji stressed being courageous and persevering. He always said that we should bravely face what terrifies us the most, work hard till we achieve our goals, and expect nothing in return as our deeds will pay off eventually. Hence, the youth, be it excelling in their careers or contributing towards a social change, should always keep these values in mind, since whatever the goal is, these are the values that will take the youth a long way.

“It’s the 21st Century, still, so many challenges, tragedies, and evils continue to exist, But our youth, with their virtues and determination, will always continue to persist.”

The article "Youth's Role in Achieving SDGs Through Selfless Contributions " 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.