CHANDIGARH, April 30: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today said the youth had a special role to play in the future of the country as also of the state. He pointed out, over seventy percent of India’s population was below 40 years of age. He also said that the women had a special and important role to play in politics in India.
Fielding a wide range of questions from students at the Panjab University, during a seminar on, “Role of youth in Today’s Punjab”, here today, relating to retirement age for politicians, minimum qualification for political representative, participation of women and youth in politics, formulating a youth oriented employment policy or handling the serious problem of pollution in Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh said, the talent needs to be harnessed and it was high time when our youth must be involved in the decision making process.On the issue of corruption, Capt Amarinder Singh said, although introduction of Lok Pal was a welcome step but still a lot was needed to be done to cleanse the system. “Otherwise it will turn into a cancer and eat into the vitals of our society”, he warned, while stressing that the corruption needed to be curbed also at the cutting edge levels of administration like at the level of the SHO or the patwari.
To a question from a girl student about participation and opportunities to women and those without any political or sound financial background, Capt Amarinder said, no political party can succeed without involving the women. He said, Congress was giving due representation to the women in the party and the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi had emphasised the need for making more women Congress members.
He agreed that it was difficult for people without any family background or much resources to join politics, he said, the system was evolving and good efforts were being made. In this direction, he said, his party was giving due representation to the youth. He also invited the youth to join his party where they could get lot of opportunities and they only needed to have talent for that.
The PCC President also supported the idea of fixing retirement age for politicians besides minimum qualification for those who want to become representatives. He hoped something would be done in this regard. In the same context, he said, his party was giving adequate representation to the youth and quite a few of them had made it even to the parliament.
To a question about serious environmental problems Punjab was facing, Capt Amarinder Singh said, stringent measures were needed to be taken to save the environment. He said, he was seized of the matter and during his previous regime he had taken several measures to ensure minimum environmental hazards. He said, still a lot needed to be done to ensure a clean environment for a healthy Punjab.
He expressed serious concern over the problem of drug addiction in the state. He said, there were multiple factors including the alienation of youth who were either trapped or forced into addiction. He called for a national policy on the issue saying coordination between different states was important.
Prominent among those who participated in the seminar included the Vice Chancellors of the Panjab University and the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, Prof RC Sobti and Prof PS Jaswal, Dayal Partap Randhawa, Arvind Khanna, Rana Sodhi, Major Amardeep and others.