Rahul's 'dard, data, daulat' message to Gen Z; BJP says should've gone to Jharkhand
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday pitched India’s 40 crore young people as the country’s “greatest strength”, but said they had been trapped in a
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday pitched India’s 40 crore young people as the country’s “greatest strength”, but said they had been trapped in a “chakravyuh” of expensive education, shrinking job opportunities and paper leaks. The BJP immediately hit back, asking why Gandhi was addressing students in Prayagraj instead of visiting protesting aspirants in Congress-ruled Jharkhand. “Rahul Gandhi should have gone to Ranchi instead of Prayagraj,” BJP leader Amit Malviya said, as the Congress leader addressed students and competitive exam aspirants at the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme at KP Ground. Read Full Story The Leader of Opposition built his speech around three themes: “dard, data and daulat” — pain, data and wealth — arguing that India possessed an unmatched advantage in its young population but was failing to convert that potential into jobs and economic opportunity. “If this country moves forward, it will do so because of your strength. India has the world’s largest youth population – 40 crore energetic young people. This is the strength of the country,” he said. The event was part of the Congress’s 40-day nationwide ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign, launched in June to highlight paper leaks, recruitment irregularities and unemployment and to press for reforms in the examination system. ‘DEGREES HAVE NO MEANING IF THEY CANNOT GET YOU A JOB’ Gandhi argued that families were spending lakhs of rupees on higher education only for young people to discover that their degrees did not guarantee employment. “You study engineering, medicine, postgraduate courses or whatever you choose. Lakhs of rupees are taken from your families and then you are given a certificate,” the 56-year-old leader said.
“But today that certificate has no meaning in India because it cannot give you employment.” He claimed that only 12 out of every 1,000 young Indians secured permanent jobs. Gandhi also referred to a competitive exam aspirant who said he worked for Blinkit for nearly 10 hours a day before studying for government examinations and had missed clearing an Indian Army test by one mark. The Congress leader used the example to argue that young people were being forced to work long hours simply to fund their preparation, only to face the added uncertainty of paper leaks. According to Gandhi, years of effort could be wiped out if someone with money was able to “buy” access to a leaked examination paper. ‘YOUTH PLUS DATA EQUALS 21ST-CENTURY ECONOMY’ Gandhi then shifted to what he described as India’s second major advantage after its youth population — data. “Youth plus data is equal to the 21st-century economy,” he said. Drawing a comparison with petroleum in the previous century, the Rae Bareli MP argued that data was the raw material driving artificial intelligence. “If I gave you a petrol engine in the 20th century but refused to give you petrol, you would say the engine was useless. In the same way, AI has no meaning without your data,” he said. Gandhi said the huge volumes of data produced by Indians constituted a national asset. “This data is India’s and it is yours. You create it. It comes from your imagination. It is India’s capital, strength and asset,” he said.
The BriefWire