Welham Girls' School

India being the largest democracy has only about 6% of political leaders who are below the age of 35. Out of which mostly all belong to a powerful family or have a political background. India is a young and developing country. 50% of India’s population is under the age of 25 years and 65% of India’s population is under the age of 35 years. Whereas 75% of the 16th Lok Sabha is above 50 years and a survey has found that for the last 20 years, the average age of Lok Sabha MPs has always been above 50. In our country, the retired people become eligible to be politicians but not the youth who have much more potential and have more innovative ideas. And by youth I mean the age of 30-40 when one is mature and experienced enough. India is young but is being governed by the majority of old people. The youth can only connect with the youth and they can understand what the public wants. The young leaders can bring about reforms. Maximum of the younger generation being unbiased can fight against discrimination and racism faced by India today . And yes we do need the older generation in the parliament but the majority should be of youth. Only when the older generation with their experience and the younger generation with their potential mix then India will be a supreme power. There are two types of youth in politics-princelings and thuglings. princelings are those who are in politics because of their family. For example Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia Thuglings are those who take birth in the student union, they do rallies, raise slogans. For example Kanhaiya Kumar. The youth doesn’t participate in politics because the maximum population in India is middle class. People don't want to risk their life by entering politics because there is no fixed income. Politics in India is not even a viable career. The media only gives us a negative vision of politics. What we are shown in the news is all negative. Why can’t the newspapers and the news channels give us positive news? If only a few but good things are happening which the public needs to know so that they can be encouraged to take part in politics. And yes maximum politicians have serious criminal cases against them however there are a few who are able leaders. We do need to be more optimistic. If we want to clean a dirty place we need to get there and only then we can clean it. Therefore, till the time we don’t take part in politics, there will be corruption, there will be gender discrimination, there will be a farmer whose land will be taken away, there will be people of LGBTQ community fighting for their rights, there will be children dying because of no food. - Kritika Singh O461 A2A