Podcast Transcript

Introduction (00:08)

 

Welcome back to another episode of ADR Speaks! My name is Nandini Raj and I am a Program Associate at ADR.

 

Background & Overview (00:14)

 

Today’s episode focuses on youth representation in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, importance of youth participation in the Indian elections, measures undertaken by ECI to increase the participation of youth in the voting process, and ADR’s efforts to create awareness amongst young Indians about the current political atmosphere and informed voting.

 

It was the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections which saw the resurgence of political interest amongst the young electorate, which pushed the political parties to capture the online and offline campaigning arenas to mobilise youth. About 45 million eligible voters were under the age of 25 and 15 million were first-time voters in the age group 18-19 years in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. It is predicted by experts that the youth’s political participation is not likely to go down in the coming years. 

 

India has the largest youth population in the world but the country is led by a majority of leaders from an older generation. Moreover, it is noteworthy that though political parties target youth via election campaigns, political demonstrations, rallies, recruitment of new members and student union elections, they fail to meet their demands. For example, as per ADR’s "All India Survey on Governance Issues and Voting Behaviour 2018”, though “Better Employment Opportunities” was ranked number one voters’ priority by 46.80% of the 2.70 lakh respondents, however, they rated the performance of the government “Below Average” i.e., 2.15 on a scale of 5 for employment opportunities. Various official reports have highlighted that the Indian youths are grappling with unemployment and this has only worsened due to the pandemic.

 

ADR’s Analysis (02:12)

 

It is paramount to understand the infinitesimal youth representation in the current Lok Sabha who represent the thought process of millions of Indian youth. To ascertain youth representation in the elections/legislature, ADR analysed the data of young candidates and MPs between the age 25-35 years who contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Here are some important analysis of the young candidates: 

 

a.) 18.7% of the candidates who contested elections were in the age group 25-35 years

b.) 12% of the young candidates had criminal cases while 9% had serious criminal cases against themselves

c.) 7% young candidates were crorepati while average assets of the young candidates were worth Rs. 73.60 Lakhs

d.) 48% of the young candidates were graduates or above, 47% were 12th pass or below whereas only 2% were illiterate

 

ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 542 MPs out of 543, only 31 MPs were in the age group of 25-35 years. Here are some analysis of these 31 MPs:

 

a.) 48% of these young MPs had declared criminal cases while 29% of them declared serious criminal cases against themselves 

b.) 61% of them were crorepati MPs and the average assets of the young MPs were Rs. 5.66 crores

c.) 81% of the young MPs were graduates or above while only 19% were 12th pass or below

 

It is crystal clear that youth participation has increased but it is paramount to ensure their full participation as they constitute the majority of the Indian population, and they will be impacted by the government policies at large. It is crucial to note that some youths are not satisfied with the candidates contesting the elections, and even with the NOTA option, they stand with the popular belief that NOTA is a waste of vote, and hence refrain from exercising their voting right. 

Excerpts from Dr. SY Quraishi’s Book (04:33)

Dr. S.Y Quraishi, the 17th CEC of India, in his book, “An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election”, has talked about why youth need to ‘Stop Complaining and Start Voting’. They should know:

• Why they should get united and take charge of their lives and their country
• Why they should not take democracy lightly and neglect their right to vote
• How it was the youth who spearheaded the freedom struggle to win freedom and democracy for the country which they must defend now
• How voting is the first critical and concrete step towards youth empowerment, using which the youth influence decisions on who should run their country, their state, their municipality, their panchayats, their village and how they should do it
• How large-scale youth participation will add value to democracy and change the nature of ‘conversation’ between the voter and the voted

Measures undertaken by ECI (05:34)

When the Election Commission of India observed that the voter enrollment ratio of 18-20 years old was around 12%, they initiated Youth Unite for Voter Awareness, also known as YUVA,  in 2011 to identify the missing and non-voters to encourage them to vote. Under Systematic Voters’ Education & Electoral Participation, commonly known as SVEEP, ECI has also started the Electoral Literacy Clubs in educational institutions, organizations as well as in rural communities via Chunav Pathshalas.

ADR’s Youth Outreach Programme (06:09)

 

To motivate, inform and involve youth in the political & electoral reforms processes, ADR has initiated a Youth Outreach programme called Hum Badlenge Apna Bharat. The programme aims to educate Indian youths of the challenges faced by Indian Democracy today. With the support of our State Coordinators, we are committed to taking this programme to the maximum number of youths across the country. To know more about it you can visit our website - adrindia.org.

 

Conclusion (06:43)

 

It is thus concluded that it is imperative that the demands of youth are heard and met to ensure maximum participation of the youth, and political parties should give more opportunities to young politicians with a clean background to have a balanced and demographically diverse government.

 

(07:01)

 

Well, that’s all for today’s episode. I hope you all found this useful and interesting. If you like our work, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on our website: adrindia.org and don’t forget to write to us at [email protected] with your feedback. We will be back in two weeks with another amazing episode. Please stay tuned and thank you for listening.

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