Events & Issues

New Delhi, 10 October 2011

Radicalisation of Youth

NO HALF-HEARTED SOLUTIONS

Dr. S.Saraswathi

(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)

The National Integration Council (NIC), which meets occasionally, was convened last month primarily to assess the sense of the Council on the controversial Bill to check communal violence. In the deliberations, the issue of radicalization of youth was also taken up as a serious problem that needs to be urgently addressed.  

Indeed, this problem of youth activism has occurred as a domestic problem on a massive scale in many countries, both affluent and poor, developed and developing, at some point in the second half of the last century. Student and youth revolts in the US, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, and China have brought about crucial social-political changes. Its global escalation threatening peace and security is part of international terrorism in recent decades.

The term ‘radicalism’ in common parlance is associated with violence and direct action.  The dictionary definition gives its meaning as ‘going to the root’, that is, ‘primary’, or ‘fundamental’. In politics, it refers to political orientation of those who favour revolutionary change in government and society. For students of politics, the term is a reminder of the most radical element of the French Revolution witnessed in ‘Jacobinism’ that ushered in the Reign of Terror.

Today, when we speak of youth radicalism in India, we are concerned with radical ideals – extremism and fundamentalism - and not civil rights or democracy that provoked the youth in the countries mentioned above. Radicalism is pictured as a violent collision between groups of different persuasions or affiliations that have no meeting ground, and clashes between the radical group identified by others as such and the government having legal authority to suppress opposition. Further, radicalism is in our mindset associated with terrorism that takes the fight against opponents and the authority supporting the status quo to innocent people who take no sides.  

Youth population (13-35 years of age as recognised by the Government of India) constitutes over 40 per cent of the total population of India, and is clearly significant by size. It is a finding from several studies abroad that there is a danger of eruption of violence and terrorism in countries with bulging youth population and glaring inequalities in the society. Wide disparities in income and economic standards, and unequal opportunities for social-economic progress intensify suffering and make the young angry. A large youth population feeling alienated and marginalised is likely to develop a peculiar class consciousness and tend to cultivate separatist feelings.

Terrorist operations in several places are reported to be carried out by young men trained for the purpose.  They are found staunch supporters of their cause and their methods and found unrepenting if caught. Well trained and willing to take risks, substantial number of suicide squads in some militant groups like the LTTE are said to be young. Maoist and Naxalite ideas in India have an appeal for disgruntled youth.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated in the NIC meeting that problems of terrorism and left wing extremism constitute two major challenges that our society and polity face today, and that in tackling this, education and skill development have a major role to play.  His contention is that lack of productive employment opportunities for our young men and women is a factor which aids radicalism. Home Minister P C Chidambaram speaks of radicalisation of Muslim youth and ‘extremist right wing organisations’ in the same tone as parallels. The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj has in the same meeting hinted at lack of political will in containing the menace.

Candidly, all these observations appear superfluous taking the country nowhere near finding a solution to youth discontent and consequent unrest. There are instances of poverty breeding violence; there are also cases of highly educated, skilled and upper class youth indulging in cyber crimes and specialising in the use of sophisticated appliances that help extremist activities. Land grab politics and eviction of tribals from their habitats for development projects have led to mass uprising of the deprived; so also, student groups desperately fight for ethnic and linguistic rights and seek political solution by non-parliamentary methods.  

Radicalisation of youth is facilitated by rapid and sophisticated communication network. Ideologies and doctrines are carried anywhere in no time and this helps rapid escalation of movements and protests.  Radicalism is no longer confined to the poor and suppressed and the unemployed, but has spread above in the social ladder.

Many believe that development is the remedy to curb youth violence. But, unless the fruits of development reach all, it will only aggravate the sense of deprivation and injustice, and intensify protests against development projects. This brings to the fore the importance of humanizing development. 

Economic development is only one aspect of human development.  Comprehensive development and ‘development for all’ cannot be measured by GDP growth or by budget allocations and expenditure statements of the government. Productive employment repeatedly asserted by planners is not sufficient; it should alter the basic socio-economic structure of the country.

In most cases of youth revolt - whether in the North-East or in Andhra Pradesh, whether they are project displaced people or victims of industrialisation and urbanisation, protesters fight against a system under which they are unable to get what they think is due to them.  To fight this situation, they tend to seek strength from parochial identities as well as sentiments. It is a fight for social space.

The problem of youth radicalisation is complex and needs to be addressed with a multidimensional approach from social, political, economic, and psychological angles. Half-hearted solutions will not work. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)