EDITORIAL
Community support for people’s empowerment and welfare is a pressing need
In a positive development for the state, 900 youth will act as first responders during disaster response. This will strengthen Goa’s emergency capability. The youth, called Yuva Aapda Mitra volunteers, are undergoing training to participate in disaster response, relief and rehabilitation operations.
The volunteers were enrolled under the Yuva Aapda Mitra scheme, a flagship national initiative of the central government to build community-based disaster preparedness. They are being trained by the Directorate of Fire and Emergency Services, Goa. Their seven-day training includes essential skills such as disaster management basics, disaster preparedness, search and rescue, flood, cyclone and tsunami response, earthquake safety, medical first aid, rope rescue and flood rescue exercises. The volunteers have been enrolled from four major youth organisations – National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) and Bharat Scouts and Guides. Upon successful completion of training, they will be certified jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).
Fire and Emergency Services director Nitin V Raiker said that the skills gained would not only help society but also contribute to nation-building. True, the training will greatly benefit the volunteers in their personal lives, instilling confidence, discipline and readiness to respond during any emergency.
Similarly, youth can play an important role in many other fields such as waste management, education, environmental conservation, policing, traffic regulation, elderly support, community outreach, animal welfare and street children/orphan welfare.
The political class likes to use slogans irrespective of whether efforts are made to move in that direction. We have heard this often: ‘Green Goa, Clean Goa’. Citizens are aware of what has been done to keep Goa green. Hundreds of trees have been and are being felled in the name of development. Compensatory plantation or reforestation is more on paper. Keeping Goa clean needs volunteers. As the Indore district collector said, community participation is vital for waste management. In Goa, the government has set up infrastructure such as treatment plants, but there are gaps between waste collection and disposal. The plastic menace also has to be tackled on priority. Youth participation and app-based monitoring will go a long way in improving the situation.
Goa often faces traffic chaos, and policemen are nowhere to be seen many times. In many states, students and others are trained to regulate traffic. An experiment was carried out with schoolchildren in Goa long ago. College students could be enlisted for some training as traffic wardens. Youth volunteers could also play a role as informants to alert the police about suspicious elements or activities, and even in fighting the drug menace.
The state needs community outreach, and the elders need support. Goa has a sizeable senior and super senior citizen population. The youngsters can also learn life lessons from the expertise and experience of the septuagenarians, octogenarians and others. In the backdrop of dacoities, robberies, etc., the super senior citizens, especially those living alone, live in fear and need some community support. The police have also failed in keeping community policing going. We have been hearing of this concept for nearly two decades.
On the education front too, youth volunteers can play a pivotal role. Children of the labour class, street children and others may need basic education in a manner in which formal classes fail to give them. The Centre may have declared Goa as 100% literate, but wherever needed, the volunteers can pitch in.
It’s up to the government to take the initiative to extend youth volunteering in other sectors too.
