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Youngistan needs Young Neta but ...

Full text of my Blog at Lead India'09, excerpts of which (as in Bold Italics) appeared on Page 2 of TOI dated 4/4/2009
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Everyone is talking about voting-in the young leaders for 75% of India is below 40 - Good to know but this is sheer statistics and numbers. Going by the same statistics and some basic thumb rules, the reality however is quite different - more than half of them would be below the voting age so that makes it 37.5%. From these remaining 37.5%, at least half, if not more will fall in BPL category so they are only worried about their next meal my friends, and not the elections. That leaves us with just 18% of youngistan. There are 36 such leaders in Parliament already who would fall under Youngistan category. The point I am trying to drive home is, we are fairly well represented over there already. So, before we all join in this holy task of cleaning up the deadwood to inject some fresh blood into our Parliament, may we please have a report-card published on the past performance of these current 36 sitting ducks who fall in this category? The result actually would be a big ZERO - most of us are blissfully ignorant that we already have some representation there during the last 5 years. 36 per 5 Years is 180 Man-Years and this is not a small number, if they really wanted to achieve something together, cutting across party lines. So we have to be very careful not to send an army of 100 such members out there - there is no point in shifting their base from Cafe Coffee Day and Barista to the Parliament of India. If our Parliament is an ICU patient in desperate need of some fresh blood, we must thoroughly scan the new blood before it is being injected.
Young India is very energetic and charged up to its full capacity today - the climate is such - it is in the air all around us - Hawa hi kuch aisee hai - it is the need of the hour - doom and gloom everywhere - and every single Young Indian wants to be a part of this change for the better -like a Freedom Fighter - desperately wants to be Freed from corruption, poverty, crime, terror, social inequality, unemployment, poor governance. This charged up ultra high voltage current needs proper direction and guidance. Let us not get carried away by just slogans and jingoism - JOSH alone is not enough in war - needs to be combined with HOSH in equal amounts. We need to educate and equip ourselves with enough knowledge and wisdom, seek proper guidance, right direction, ask questions, and then arrive at a clear and consolidated wish-list of what we want for ourselves and what we would pass on to our next generation.
I am absolutely convinced that together we can bring this change but we need to tread with extreme caution and make no mistakes.
Ashish.
Tags : young leaders
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http://leadindia.itimes.com/content.php?cid=81742
Posted by Ashish Jauhari in Civic infrastructure & amenities on Fri, 03 Apr, 2009.

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