Young and Restless India » Election 2009

Youngest Minister in Prime Minister’s Cabinet

Akshata — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:52:20 +0000

India witnessed a historic victory of Congress in recent elections. The political landscape is springing through vibrant youthful energy who want to bring change and make a difference to the New India that is being born.

Meet Agatha Sangma who hails from Meghalaya. At a young age of 27 she is a lawyer, environmentalist and also amateur photographer and yes to top all this, the youngest minister in the cabinet.

Read her interview here.

Young MPs face to face with Young Indians

Raj — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:34:33 +0000

CNN IBN has hosted the program called ‘Youngisthan’ where they invited the young MPs to face questions from young individuals. The MPs had to tackle very tough questioning by the youth. For more videos go here.

Now is the time for India to Shine?

Raj — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:59:25 +0000

New York Times Article ‘After Vote, Is it India’s Time to Shine?‘, makes a compelling case for India to reap its demographic dividend. According to the article, China’s population will soon start to age, eroding the demographic dividend that has helped fuel 10 percent annual growth for the past 30 years. Every second Indian, by contrast, is still younger than 25.

India can learn from China to develop light manufacturing to provide employment for tens of millions of surplus farm laborers. Better urban management will be an imperative as more Indians flock to cities in search of work.

Now, after a decisive general election victory for the Congress party, markets is anticipating the prospect that political and policy continuity will allow India to start closing the development gap with China.

India has a unique chance to finally live up to the hype ‘India Shining’.

More Young MPs this Election

Raj — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:43:12 +0000

According to Times of India Article, titled More Young MPs in new Lok Sabha, there are 79 members aged less than 40 years. Lok Sabha has a higher number of under-40 members compared with the last. The representation of women members has crossed the 10% mark for the first time in Indian history. However, this is still low in comparison with parliaments of the industrialized countries. For instance, UK, USA, Italy, Ireland and France have 19.3%, 16.3%, 16.1%, 14.2% and 13.9% women parliamentarians, respectively.

Lessons Learnt from this Election

Raj — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:36:48 +0000

Now that the election results are out, Financial Times opinion at FT.com list the meaning of surprising strong showing by Congress. The article notes 7 lessons that can be learnt from this election results. I will note 3 that are relevant here.

Lesson # 2: Given the fact that 65 per cent of India’s voter base is between the ages of 18 and 35, is indicative of what an ideal political campaign must be. It must feed on issues pertaining to development and progress and not be regressive in its thinking. I believe the logic of aligning youthful idealism with policies and manifestoes is never more critical than it is in today’s times.
Lesson # 5: The nation has moved from regionalism to federalism and this is a tremendous signal of the maturity of the Indian voter. We are now seeing the return of the two major parties: the Congress and the BJP and the demise of regional factionalism and certainly the blackmail opportunities that were effectively the birthmark of these fringe parties.
Lesson # 6: The great divide between Bharat (rural or poor India) and India will remain. But this divide is easily bridged when it comes to voting in a government at the centre. And this time round, we have seen that divide melt because the aspirations of the people remain the same even though the definition ad intensity may vary.

You can read all the lessons learnt in article titled ‘Singh is re-king’.