Couple of my friends in Nepal and in different places of the world have decided that the educated urban youth of Nepal (age group of 25 and under) should start discussing about the political future of Nepal in next 20-25 years? Modern Nepal has gone through various political changes in its more than 250 years of existence, and we have turned Nepal into a socio-political experiment lab. Major political parties were established before 1990, but we feel that they are still stuck with the same geopolitical and social arguments.And they forget that much has changed in Nepal and outside since then. Most of the urban youth is antipathetic about the situation in Nepal as if they have resigned to their fate.
This group of young people who will be tomorrow's intellectuals, academics and technocrats believe that the first thing the urban youth of Nepal should do is start believing in themselves that they can bring a change. We can take the example of Madhesi youth, small armed outfits have sprung everywhere and we see most of the members are young people. It is unfortunate that they are raising weapons instead of their thoughts. We would like to change it.
We know that the Benaras Hindu University and JNU (Nehru University) in India have played important role in connecting the young intellectuals who are now top political leaders of Nepal . In 21st century, we want to use Internet and media to connect the young people of our age. Our generation cannot be another "lost generation" and we have a chance to become "the golden generation of Nepal". So, to start the process we have started a movement called BIKALPA. We have started a facebook group to start preliminary networking and discussion.
It sounds like a crazy idea but we believe this is not an impossible idea. It needs, motivation, commitment and patience. We will have obstacles on our way especially first couple of months are crucial. We have to keep our energy and find more people who are motivated for this movement. Finding people is not the hard part, but convincing them is. Most of the urban youth are comfortable either in home or abroad, so are their families. So, it is not necessary for them to think about what is happening in Nepal. But, remember whether you are interested in politics or not politics is interested in you, and whether you affect politics or not politics will affect you. Think about our dreams when we were kid, we wanted to be an artist, journalist, teachers, actors, doctors, engineers, scientists and others. But as we grew up, we had to realize that in some fields it is hard to survive economically in Nepal. That's why most of the urban youth is told to become doctor or an engineer. Then if we wanted to escape from those circumstances, or want to try something else we would go abroad. Think about the life abroad: isn't it hard and cold, isolated from your friends, family and sweet climate? Most of us will have to admit that our education may not hold any value in Nepal. It is easy to say "there is nothing to do" but we say that "there is a lot to do" and if we do not do anything then only there will be nothing to do. So, it is time to stop complaining and start taking action.
Before taking any action though, we need to plan carefully about our actions. In order to make those plans, we need to start thinking collectively what should be done. In the first phase of movement, which we have conceptualized to be Let's Talk Politics is get young people start talking about politics. In this way, we can create political awareness among the urban youth which will motivate and inspire them to start thinking about Nepal's political future.
So, in this effort, we need everyone's support so that we will not have to tell every new foreigner where Nepal is.
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