Independence Day speeches make ritual references to the youth. They are seen as the country's future, as the carriers of new values and attitudes, and as the agents of social, economic and political change. What does this body of people, which bears the burden of these expectations, think about the state of the nation? On issues such as education, family, social mobility, citizenship and so on? Full Story »
Posted by Lewyn Li
As another reviewer notes, major stories about India in the mainstream US press are not numerous (except when it comes to America picking India to share nuclear energy expertise with). Those in IT, or who have dealings with IT companies, might think the country overrun with enough tech-savvy youth to dominate the world market; yet the plainly stated figures show how unreal that uninformed perception is, when most of those surveyed find globalisation as much a threat as an opportunity. But as the article ruefully admits, the hope that young people will reform Indian society seems based on nothing more than their expression of a general youthful optimism---an optimism that does not quite square with concern for their own ... More »
Interesting poll about youth in India. Would like to see the results of other similar polls, as well as more information about the methodology used for this particular study.
Here's a nation-wide mega-survey performed over the Indian youth (people under 30) and which followed a set of key dimensions. Comparing to the standard Western image of youth, young people of India seem to be very different: a uniform system of beliefs (despite other social factors like class, gender, community), a very wide "digital divide" (only one out of six have mobile phones, 3% possess Internet access, and 7% can access the Internet at all), also an "information divide" (though colored with a Western flavor of preference for TV, cinema and St Valentine's Day, instead of books and national history). The survey followed some other issues of the Indian youth's social and economic herringbone: estimated income for satisfying ... More »
I don't usually recommend articles about polls and surveys, since their reliability is often questionable. But I recommend this piece because, first, it is from one of the best newspapers in India, and is a good and detailed report; secondly, it provides a window into the youths in India, which has the second largest population in the world and is therefore going to be important in the future; and finally, stories on India are chronically under-reported outside the sub-continent.
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