New Delhi, Feb 08: India is passing through hard times. “Today we are experiencing a turbulent and uncertain environment affecting all aspects of our life. When we open a news paper or tune to TV or radio in the morning, what we see and what we hear is violence against women and children, suicides by frustrated farmers and students; educated unemployed youth resorting to crime; failures of governments in providing basic amenities and security; monumental corruption in public life invading all spheres of our activity; leaders mortgaging national interests being involved in scams; promoting divisive politics for narrow political gains affecting the basic fabric of the society and endangering the unity and integrity of the nation. The need of the hour is to have a unique, disciplined, trained, and well educated youth force consisting of inspired boys and girls for the regeneration of our society and polity. It is with this objective that the youth of India, it is suggested, organise themselves into a voluntary army bearing the name “Indian Volunteer Force”(IVF)”.
The goal is to liberate India from the raj of the corrupt and the criminal and to herald a truly secular, social democracy capable of providing effective governance and efficient administration based on the rule of law and equality before law, securing the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
This volunteer force begins to work at all levels of society, cleansing it from the root by setting examples and creating awareness of the values that sustain society and civilization. The religion of the IVF is spirituality and yoga its ritual. It respects all religious traditions that are rooted in spirituality and pulsate with the force of faith, love and an incessant search for truth and justice to each and all.
The IVF begins its work by recruiting youth from amongst students at the secondary and higher secondary levels and above, as these are the most formative and impressionable years of their life when their basic character is formed. At this stage they will be given training that in no way disturbs their academic pursuits, ensuring that they remain committed to the acquisition of a strong and healthy body, a strong and healthy mind and a keen desire to manifest the power of the soul. Once equipped with these and other qualities of life, they will be able to realize the potential in them and bear the responsibilities with commitment and dignity.
The IVF will be given, besides training on creating a healthy body and healthy mind, lessons on India and the World. These lessons are based on the principle that the past is our foundation, the present our materials and the future what we build with the materials on this foundation. The young boys and girls at IVF will also be given special training in combating natural and manmade calamities so that they can stand like a rock while dealing with natural calamities or against communal forces spreading disharmony and distrust among social groups in the country.
Veteran scholars, activists, reformers, academicians and intellectuals of all hues will be invited in accordance with a well formulated programme to give time to the youth, enter into dialogues with them and address the issues and problems they face individually and collectively in life and society.
The IVF will consist of youths from all walks of life. Farmers, industrial labourers, women workers, the handicapped and the disabled will form a part of IVF connected through the institutional network, which, of course, will also include, schools, colleges, universities and all institutes of excellence.
At different stages of their education, training and upbringing, the members of IVF will be free to exit it in order to take up any vocation or profession that, in their assessment, best suits their abilities and aspirations. That way they will be able to serve their family and society armed with a robust character and a clear vision.
It may be visualized that a day will come sooner than later when IVF members will mostly man various institutions and professions, restoring patriotism and a sense of dignity among citizens, which today is at its lowest ebb.
The IVF will make sincere efforts to bring back misguided youth, even those who may have taken to militant politics, into the mainstream and encourage them to work for systemic and operational reforms in a constitutional way.
The IVF unit in every state and in every region consisting of a group of states will be formed by initiative local to the region. The resource persons however may come from anywhere. The units so formed across the country will bear the same name, IVF, and be a constituent unit of the larger IVF, headed by one who has the requisite qualifications, experience, expertise and unflinching commitment to lead such an army of volunteers.
The IVF will be available to the Nation whenever any crisis overtakes it, be it natural or manmade calamity, or even foreign aggression.
The need of the hour is that this movement be launched in every nook and corner of the country with the help of those few who have the vision and commitment to make sacrifices for the cause of the motherland.
The IVF will have a command structure like that of an army. Each and every volunteer shall be bound by an oath of allegiance, with the motto: “Together we can and together we shall build an inclusive knowledge based society”.(SP News)
