Strength of mind and character important for youth, says Devan Ramachandran

High Court Judge Devan Ramachandran emphasizes the need for mental strength and character building in youth for leadership. He was delivering a talk on ‘Youth: Shaping future of India’ as part of a lecture series at Chavara Cultural Centre in Kozhikode

High Court Judge Devan Ramachandran has called upon parents and teachers to impart mental strength and strength of character to the youth to help them evolve into good leaders and statespersons.

Delivering a talk on ‘Youth: Shaping future of India’ as part of a lecture series at Chavara Cultural Centre in Kozhikode on Sunday, he pointed out that the youth at present faced a severe lack of role models. “If we see matters that are unpleasant around us, we have failed, as we did nothing to change it. When there are issues, everyone thinks it is someone else’s responsibility to resolve them,” he said, listing the various issues that were driving the youth away from Kerala.

Youngsters have cited several factors such as lack of opportunities, lack of value for merit, highly judgmental society, and social media backlash as reasons for their wish to go outside Kerala for studies and jobs. The judge also pointed out the lack of recreational space for the youth in the State as a reason and questioned law-making bodies if they took them into consideration while framing policies.

“Only 35% of our youth have enrolled as electors. How many of them voted,” he asked, pointing to the lack of involvement of youngsters in policy making.

P.J. Joshua, news editor of Malayala Manorama, presided over the event. Chavara Cultural Centre director John Mannarathara, secretary K.F. George, and assistant director Anoop Noble Mavara were present.