Urban Youth in India Now More Politically Active: Survey

Bangalore: More young urban Indians are now participating in political activities, said a new report commissioned by UN-HABITAT Global Urban Youth Research Network. The report, compiled by IRIS Knowledge Foundation, looks at youth education, employment, livelihood and other concerns.

The “State of the Urban Youth India 2012: Employment, Livelihoods, Skills” report highlighted that youth interest in politics is on the rise and is confined to young urban men. It also said that education is a factor in young people’s rising interest in politics. However, greater participation in election related activities does not translate into larger voter turnout. 54 percent of 18 to 25 year olds voted in the 2009 general election, which is a small increase from the 52 percent in 2004.

The report suggested that the urban youth is politically oriented, but still not politically very active, and a few steps away from becoming an active political community.

As per the data, in 1996 only 43 percent of urban youth said that they had an interest in politics, while in 2011, the number had risen, with 71 percent of youth admitting to having an interest in politics.

It was also noted that media exposure seems to have a strong influence on youth's interest in politics than locality and education. Just 14 percent of youth said they either actively or moderately had participated in election campaign activities in 2009, while in 2011, almost 22 percent urban youth said that they participated in various election campaign activities at the time of election.

The report concluded that the urban youth in India is gradually politically mobilizing and socializing. It also pointed out that although the recent years have seen greater participation of urban youth in protest and demonstration and other electoral activities, it is far from being a large scale mobilization.

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