But the fact is, despite the presence of youth wings of all major political parties, the presence (and the role) of youth in national politics is inadequate.
In the current Indian Parliament, which has an average age of 53 years, there are only 79 leaders who are under 42. Most of them are well-educated. Of these, most young leaders are those who have an influential political background to back them up. A few young Members of Parliament are ministers as well.
Britain, the country from which we derived much of our political framework, boasts of a 43-year-old PM in David Cameron. But back home, we have to make do with the likes of Manmohan Singh. Oldies like Sharad Pawar, S.M. Krishna, Karunanidhi, Pranab Mukherjee, L.K. Advani, Kapil Sibal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee etc. dot the Indian political landscape.
Pakistan recently appointed a 34-year-old elegant and beautiful Hina Rabbani Khar as their foreign minister. In India, none of the young MPs have been considered good enough to head an important ministry and have always been appointed as junior ministers.
Let's take a look at 10 prominent young politicians of India many of whom are also ministers:
Agatha Sangma (born 24 July 1980)
Representing the Tura constituency of Meghalaya on the ticket of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Agatha Sangma is the youngest MP (and minister as well) in the Indian Parliament. The 30-year-old Minsiter of State for Rural Development is the daughter of P.A. Sangma, a prominent Indian leader and politician, and former speaker of the Lok Sabha. Sangma has a Masters degree in Environmental Management from Nottingham University, UK.
Jyotiraditya Scindia (born 1 January 1971)
The young scion of the Scindia family of Gwalior is a 40-year-old Minister of State for Commerece and Industry. He represents Indian National Congress as an MP for the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh. His father Madhavrao Scindia was a prominent Indian politician and minister from the Congress Party.
After earning a management degree from the Stanford College in the United States, he worked as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley and also gained some development experience working as an intern with the UN Economic Development Cell.
Sachin Pilot (born 7 September 1977)
Son of deceased Congress politician and Union Minister Rajesh Pilot (who was also a Squadron Leader in the Air Force and hence the name “Pilot”), 33-year-old Sachin Pilot represents the Ajmer constituency on the ticket of Indian National Congress. A management graduate from the prestigious Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, he is presently the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology. He is married to the daughter of Farooq Abdullah.
Naveen Jindal (born 9 March 1970)
Born to O.P. Jindal, who was a prominent Indian industrialist and politician, Naveen Jindal represents the Kurukshetra constituency in the state of Haryana on the ticket of Indian National Congress. An MBA from the University of Texas, Jindal owns 45 horses and a polo team. He fought a long legal battle for the legalisation of flying of Flag of India inside and atop non-governmental buildings and institutions and emerged victorious. He then founded the Flag Foundation of India, a non-profit body to promote the national flag.
Priya Dutt (born 28 August 1966)
44-year-old Priya Dutt is the daughter of actor-politician Sunil Dutt and actress-politician Nargis. She is the sister of actor Sanjay Dutt. She is currently representing Mumbai North Central constituency for the Indian National Congress. After graduating in sociology from Sophia College, Mumbai University, Dutt worked in television and video. Later, she studied at The Center for the Media Arts in New York. She is actively involved in many charities and campaigns for many social causes including breast cancer awareness.
Akhilesh Yadav (born 1 July 1973)
The son of the Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh is an MP from the Kannuaj constituency in Uttar Pradesh. An engineer by qualification, he is party's Uttar Pradesh president and is spearheading the campaign to bring back Samajwadi Party to power in 2012 in UP assembly elections. Akhilesh's wife, Dimple, unsuccessfully contested the by-election for Firozabad Lok Sabha seat (in U.P.) in 2009 against actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar.
Milind Deora (born 4 Dec 1976)
Congress MP from Mumbai South, Milind Deora was born in Mumbai to veteran politician Murli Deora. He is one of the youngest members of the current Lok Sabha. An alumnus of Boston University, he founded SPARSH, a social initiative aiming to educate students in computer and IT proficiency. Milind Deora was inducted in the Union Government of India as the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in 2011. On 9 November 2008, Deora married Pooja Shetty in Mumbai. She heads the film production company called 'Walk Water Media' and is the daughter of film producer Manmohan Shetty.
Dushyant Singh (born 11 September 1973)
Son of Vasundhara Raje, the ex-chief minister of Rajasthan (and also a member of the Scindia royal family of Gwalior), Dushyant Singh is a BJP MP from Jhalawar-Baran constituency in the state. He acquired a management degree from IHTTI School of Management, Neuchatel, Switzerland. His first cousin Jyotiraditya Scindia is also in politics but represents the Indian National Congress.
Supriya Sule (born 30 June 1969)
Supriya Sule is an Indian politician from the Nationalist Congress Party and currently an MP for the Pune constituency in Maharashtra. She is the daughter of the President of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar. Sule earned a B.Sc. degree from the Jai Hind College in Mumbai. In April 2010, she denied allegations of her family's financial links to IPL (India's largest cricket league body) when reports on financial irregularities in IPL surfaced.
Rahul Gandhi (born 19 June 1970)
Often advertised as the future prime minister of the country, Rahul Gandhi comes from India's most powerful family: the Nehru-Gandhi family. Three members of his family have occupied the post of the Prime Minister of India. His educational credentials have been questioned by Dr Subramanian Swamy, a noted politician and president of the Janata Party. As per the information available in public domain, he studied at St. Stephen's College in Delhi for a year and then later moved to Harvard University in the US. But in 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE during an election rally, he shifted to Rollins College, University of Florida due to security concerns and completed his B.A. in 1994
He is presently quite active in the state of Uttar Pradesh where he is trying hard to revive his party's image. (MensXP.com)
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