Young and marginalised

Why should older people in politics make room for younger ones to take on the reins? Sudhanshu Kaushik's book delves into this and more to explore the indifference of the youth towards politics

The Future is Ours: The Political Promise of India’s Youth

Author: Sudhanshu Kaushik

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 248

Price: Rs 399

“In 2023, 26-year-old Elvish Yadav won Bigg Boss by receiving over 80 million votes (almost the population of 18-30-year-olds who don’t vote in India’s elections),” writes Sudhanshu Kaushik in his book The Future is Ours: The Political Promise of India’s Youth. He is the founder of the Young India Foundation, a public trust engaged in research, advocacy and mobilisation to support and increase the participation of young people in Indian politics.

The author’s contention is that individuals who engage so passionately with popular culture will show the same excitement towards candidates contesting elections if voting is made more accessible. If this claim seems facile, pick up the book and hear him out. Mr Kaushik backs up his argument by examining some of the barriers to voter registration in India that apparently play a big role in keeping young people away from exercising their right to vote.

He writes, “While the ECI [Election Commission of India] has done a phenomenal job of embracing technological advancements, online voter registration is still far behind.” He adds, “A voter still has to upload physically self-attested documents to their portal (which on many occasions doesn’t work) rather than using technology the government already provides, such as Digilocker.” This would seem cumbersome to young people who have so many things competing for their attention online. If they can sign up for a dance class, health check-up or job interview with just a few clicks, why should signing up as a voter be so tough?

“The ECI understands that young people are in college and away from their home, so a special provision exists for them to be able to get the signature of their college authority to verify that they study in that specific institution so they can vote at a booth near the campus,” notes Mr Kaushik. Students have to get printouts of the addendum, ask the registrar to sign it, and then upload it on the ECI’s website or submit it at a local office.

Why would they go through so much trouble, especially when they know that they will be governed by politicians who are older than them by a few decades and out of touch with the struggles and aspirations of India’s youth? “India is not only a democratic republic, but it is also a thriving gerontocracy that inhibits the future of its young,” writes Mr Kaushik. He is clever enough to anticipate that he might be labelled an ageist for this remark, so he turns the tables and draws attention to the discrimination that young people face in India because of their age.

“Young people are often scapegoated, trivialised and alienated due to their age—an age that supposedly lacks maturity and experience—and are stripped of decision-making power in personal and public life,” says Mr Kaushik. The situation is worse for young people who are marginalised on account of their sexual orientation, religion, caste and class background.

The book looks at heated discussions that have taken place in the corridors of power while determining the ages at which people are allowed to cast their vote and contest elections. It analyses the evolution of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and its policies. It drives home the irony that in India, a country that boasts of the largest youth demographic in the world, we have a Prime Minister who is in his early 70s and a leader of the Opposition in his early 80s. Mr Kaushik uses data and rhetoric, emotion and reason to make his points effectively.

“Since the first election in 1952, the average age has increased every election, other than once in 1999. An average age of 46.5 has increased to 58 in 2023 in the seventeenth Lok Sabha,” he notes. The number of parliamentarians in the 25-40 age group has been dwindling, and this is a matter of concern because people who are older are not necessarily better at the job.

Mr Kaushik, who has studied at New York University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, and University of Oxford, does not want to appear unkind, so he uses this telling quote by former US President Thomas Jefferson in the epigraph: “Nothing is more incumbent on the old than to know when they should get out of the way and relinquish to younger successor the honours they can no longer earn, and the duties they can no longer perform.”

Why should older people make room for younger ones to take on the reins? Mr Kaushik dips into a study by the Centre for Youth Policy, which uses analysis from PRS Legislative Research to show that members of Parliament who are older than 60 intervene and attend Parliament less frequently than their younger counterparts. This, however, is not an India-specific problem as “on average, fewer questions and debates are taken part in by parliamentarians that hit a certain age — which can be attributed to the biological effects of ageing.” Moreover, they do not have to live with the consequences of their actions. Be it war or climate change, it is younger people who will have to pay for their greed, irresponsibility and lack of foresight.

The rage in this book comes from a desire for change. Even if it appears repetitive in parts, it is worth serious engagement. Young people want to be stakeholders, not vote banks. They want representation, not lip service. They are looking for jobs, not empty promises.

The reviewer is an independent journalist and educator based in Mumbai. @chintanwriting