'More Indian youth interested in politics'

Seetha
Saturday, September 16, 2006 23:40 IST Email

NEW DELHI: Are young people in richer countries less interested in politics Print

than those in poorer countries? Yes, says the World Bank's World
Text
Development Report, 2007, released on Saturday.
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The percentage of youth (the 18-24 age group) 'very' or 'rather' interested in
politics in India rose from around 35 per cent in 1990 to around 50 per cent in 2000, the
study notes, after analysing data from a World Values Survey.

While interest levels are on the rise in China, India and Nigeria (grouped as low-income
countries), they show a declining trend in Argentina, the Russian Federation and Turkey
(middle income countries) and Finland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom (high income
countries).

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Centre for Policy Research, finds parallels with voting
behaviour within India; voter turnout increases as one goes down the income ladder.
That, he says, could be because voting could be the only avenue of participation in
political life for the poor.

Participation levels of India's youth, however, were close to half of China's, where the
increase in interest was more muted than India's perhaps because of already high
interest levels. It isn't only because of the ubiquitous presence of the Communist Party of
China. Mehta notes that for a lot of functions affecting citizens, there is a lot more
genuine decentralisation in China.

Participation levels also vary with age, with interest levels declining as age increases in
the lower income countries. While 46.3 per cent of people in the 18-29 age group in India
were interested in politics, the percentage declines to 40.5 per cent in the 65+ age
group. It's just the reverse in the higher income countries.

In the United States, for example, 58.5 per cent of the 18-29 age group were interested
in politics; the percentage increased to 83.5 per cent in the 65+ age group.

It has mainly to do with the demographic profiles of societies, the report says. The large
share of ageing populations in the advanced economies means concerns of older citizens
dominate public policy, while issues relating to youth dominate discourses in the
developing nations. Moreover, the power, prestige and legitimacy of the state have got
reduced over time in the more advanced economies. Hence, the reduced interest among
the youth.

The report finds that youth in the lower income countries have a higher level of
confidence in the civil service than those in high-income countries, a point Mehta
concedes. Despite all the disillusionment with the state machinery, it is still seen as
better than market or civil society mechanisms, he says. "The space of the state in
politics is seen as more open and inclusive," he argues.

Interestingly, young people in the low-income countries are more likely to believe that
businesses should be privately-owned than their counterparts in the richer countries.
While 19.3 per cent of youth in the 18-29 age group in India felt private ownership of
business should be increased, only 14.3 per cent in Canada, 7 per cent in South Korea
and 4.9 per cent in Japan felt the same

Youth and Politics With recent facts and figures it has been proved that India has
more than 70% of its population under the age of 40 and we are talking about more than a
million populations here.

It has been normal thought process of youth that politics in India is corrupt and holds no
standards. Youngsters from good background and having high educational qualification prefer
to fly abroad to pursue their career or prefer working with some M.N.Cs rather than getting
into politics.

Are we youngsters that bad in politics or we feeling the job of running the country to
betterment a worthless effort? One thing I can assure you that we youngsters are not bad in
politics at all. You have any doubt about it? Have you not seen MTv Roadies? If not then go to
Youtube and watch episodes of Roadies.

With more and more responsible youngsters getting into Indian politics we can sure expect
some change. Politicians like Omar Abdullah, Rahul Gandhi and Sachin Pilot etc can sure give
India a bright future, if they get a support and motivation. They sure can lead us to the
development path since they understand India's population much better as maximum of the
population are of their age.

But the question lies is,

Are we youngsters ready to take initiative to lead our country to the path of peace
and development?

Are we youngsters ready to make a change in the society and spend some of our
time to the betterment of the society and the needy ones?

Is it really OUR time NOW?? If it is, are we ready for it?

I leave that question to you to answer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 and is filed under Youth and Politics . You
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