According to a survey, around 65% of the population of India is of the age group 20-45. So by this figure, one can easily conclude that India as a whole is a young country.
Okay.... India is young. But what about those in power? If you follow Indian politics, can you shortlist a few politicians who are below 45? (I said shortlist 'coz the list is really very short)
You might name Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Omar Abdullah, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, etc. Okay, since you've answered my first question, here's another one. What do these 'young' leaders have in common?
Let me tell you, their parents were all politicians. Above all, they never had to compete with the grassroot partyworkers. They never had to come through party ranks.
This means that in India, if you want to enter politics and make it big as a youngster, you must have a Father or a Godfather in politics. To make it big early, you have to be from a political family. Otherwise, politics in India is for the older guys.
Lets take the examples of people holding top posts in India. The President Pratibha Patil is 73. Vice President Mohd Hamid Ansari is 75. PM Manmohan Singh is 77.
The situation in the states is even worse. Chief Ministers of 6 Indian states have crossed 70 year mark. And of those six, 3 have crossed the 80th 'milestone'. Kerala CM A S Achuthanandan is 86 followed by Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi (85) and Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal (82). The members of 70-club are Uttarakhand CM Dr B C Khanduri (75), Assam CM Tarun Gogoi (73) and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit (71).
Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah (39) is the youngest CM. The other two in the 'youngest 3 CMs' list are Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (49) and Ashok Chavan (50). Of these three 'young' CMs, only one (Omar Abdulah) falls in the young age bracket (20-45 years). So, we just have one young CM.
And of these three, Omar Abdullah and Ashok Chavan hail from families with political history. Shivraj...