Young people do not enter the education or employment system on an equal footing. Access to quality education, skills development, and meaningful employment remains deeply unequal. Factors such as geography, class, religion, race, gender, language, disability, socio-political networks and infrastructural accessibility create vastly different educational and employment outcomes.
Rather than viewing these as isolated challenges faced by young people, this theme explores how systemic inequalities embedded within education and labour systems are shaping youth aspirations, mobility, and their futures in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalaya. This theme connects present inequalities with future outcomes and opens up discussion beyond employment to questions of fairness, aspiration, mobility and social justice, while also examining pathways towards more inclusive and equitable employment.
Climate change, environmental disasters, shifting land-use patterns, and changes in agricultural practices are reshaping livelihood practices and choices, and recalibrating our relationship with the environment. Young people are living these changes in distinct ways. Their decisions about farming, response to climate change, migration and settlement etc., offer important insights into the ecological future of the region. As aspirations change and livelihoods diversify, questions about environmental and agrarian transitions of the future emerge – What is the future of rural communities? How are communities adapting to environmental changes? Is the future urban?
This theme explores how youth decisions and choices about environmental stewardship are transforming the relationship between people, livelihoods, and the environment in the Eastern Himalaya, and discusses its impacts on the future of agriculture, rural life, climate adaptation and regional development in the Eastern Himalaya.
The Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalya is undergoing rapid socio-spatial transformation. This transformation is visible in the shrinking of our public and communal spaces, the shortage and unaffordability of the rental market, the transformation of our towns, neighbourhoods and markets, overcrowding of our cities, and the pressure on natural resources and waste management. Combined with economic pressure, aspirational lifestyles, under-employment/unemployment, out-migration and static socio-cultural norms, the youth of the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalaya are faced with a space and society that is simultaneously moving forward and holding them back. How are the youth navigating these shrinking spaces? How does this impact their health and well-being? Do these transformations lead to newer inequities? What new contestations and solidarities emerge? And what can their experiences tell us about Himalayan urbanisation, new identities and belongings in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalaya.
Politics is often understood within the framework of elections, political parties, voters and vote banks. And while not always acknowledged, politics pervades every aspect of life in the region. In a broader sense, politics operates through intersecting axes of class, caste, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, indigeneity etc., influencing resource distribution, and mediating peoples’ experiences of governance, and the larger community.
The proliferation of social media across different geographies, classes and identity groups has transformed political life and democratised political commentary, expression and engagement, across the political spectrum. This theme focuses on everyday political engagements in the digital age to understand how and which political culture is produced and reproduced through social interactions, collective action and public discourse. The panel highlights issues of representation, public engagement and how young people are changing the discourse on what is considered political in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalaya.
The Conclave will feature panel discussions, immersive workshops, a photo and art exhibition, documentary screenings, and displays of literature and crafts from the region.
This event is being organized in collaboration Eastern Himalayan Foundation and is co-supported by the Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi NCR.
Email: sharedfutures.readinghimalaya@gmail.com
