A recent discussion with a friend evoked my curiosity about the concept of opportunities and how any entity can taste success by utilizing these opportunities to their optimum. To me India is at the threshold of one such opportunity and the people who are holding the key to this opportunity gate are the young. Sounded cliché? Maybe not – a quick look at the CIA Factbook 2010 estimates of median age of leading world powers will tell us that India’s median age is 25.9 years (With median male age being 25.4 and median female age being 26.6 years) as per the 2010 estimates. The USA is estimated to have a median age of 36.8 years. The reason and I’m drawing this contrast is to discuss the fact that India’s median age is at its optimum when compared to the median age of developed nations (estimated to be between 35 – 48 years). It is indisputable that young people are far more creative, energetic and innovative as compared to their experienced yet older counterparts, this means that India, given its median age has far greater scope of exploring and making the most of the available opportunities as against its mightier counterparts around the globe.
In January 2010, acceleration in growth was seen in all the six core industry sectors and the president of India in her presidential address highlighted the fact that a major credit to this growth and strength goes to the young turks and innovators of the nation. This reform process needs to sustain itself by evolving through a daily dialogue between the all factors of growth. If this evolution is to be sustained, we definitely have to rely on India’s young populace. Suhas Gopinath (the youngest CEO in the world), Sachin Pilot – minister of state for communication and technology, Krishna Byre Gowda – President, Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress and the brain behing the BIG buses in Bengaluru , Arjun Vajpai – the youngest Indian yet to summit the world’s highest peak, Rahul Gandhi, the list goes on. We have seen these people and many others like them outdoing their predecessors and raising the bar of performance. Our youth is our advantage and each person involved in nation building must hone this opportunity.
No! this is not another marketing perspective of India being poised or India shining, it is a lay perspective on the personal emotions that i experience when i happen to notice nuances scattered in every day living, nuances that make me proud to be a part of my country that a lot of ‘them’ say is changing. I dislike selling statements that project India as a country that has arrived and is the next big thing… Because India is much more than just a 1 billion people nation, to me India is a child’s first motivation to be better and contributive, to me India is a restless youngster’s search to belong, to me India is not the midnight’s child but an adult (probably in its “Quarter Life Crisis”) I see in my India a zeal to become better, a will to accept challenges, a willingness to be healed of hangovers, an attitude of collective consciousness, I see in my India promises that have started journeying towards fulfillment. I have begun to notice in my India an attitude of ownership and accountability and that to me is changing India; an India full of youngsters who are taking leaps into the future with a spirit of enterprise and a will to affect global good. Good luck! if you are one of these young people and give a pat on the back to each innovation if you are among the young at heart.
- Saranya Francis
Advisory Member, Zav Foundation
