April 15, 2009

In the upcoming 2009 General Elections, most of the political front-runners are not representative of India’s population. In a nutshell, they are old and disconnected with the global populace. Ignorance is bliss! Age bestows a sense of entitlement to some of them.

This is not to disparage their age - but more their reluctance to learn and embrace change. For every Manmohan Singh, we have a Mamta Banerjee.

India has an incredibly young population - with a median age of 24.9 - and 100 million children under the age of six. That is 1 child for every 3 people in the United States. In the next two decades, this is the population that will shape India’s image in the global populace.

For example, Dehli’s Members of Parliament range from a 39-72 years of age. Not exactly a snapshot of India. So bottom line - if you are young, and of voting age - get out there and do what it takes to make your vote count.

One of the most common excuses is “Who do I even vote for?”:

Well, good news! Google India setup an Election portal for us to figure out who is in the running and other key stats. Having a strong young voter base (<40) is in the interest of the country and of those six year olds growing up - make a difference now and maybe they’ll vote for you one day!

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