Where are the Young Leaders in India

For a country which boasts of itself as a young democracy and where 95% of the population is below the age of 64 years and a median age of 25 years, it is surprising that there are not many young leaders who can inspire confidence or leadership abilities. Average age of a Member of Parliament is 53 years with only about 15% below the age of 65 years.

For a young country like India, the upcoming and existing leadership does not inspire much confidence. Take Rahul Gandhi for example. Though he is a member of parliament and is projected to be the future Prime Minister of India, his only claim to fame is he belongs to the erstwhile Nehru Gandhi family. Does anybody know his stand on issues urgently facing India including terrorism, economic reform, domestic and foregin policy? Forget Rahul Gandhi, most of the other young politicians who are Members of Parliment (MP's), be it Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Omar Abdullah or Akhilesh Yadav have been MP's because they were kins of established politicians. They did not rise from the grass root level to become MP's. But we cannot blame them can we.

For a country whose political parties have no democratic system of governance themselves, where nepotism rules roost , the current crop of young politicians is just reaping the benefits of the seeds that their father/grandfathers sowed. Unless this politics of sycophancy and nepotism changes, we cannot expect fresh leadership to blossom out of the grass roots.