Global Role Models of Indian Youth

(Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

Not so surprisingly, 28 percent respondents in the survey consider the great orator and the President of the United States Barack Obama as their role model. Breaking the common notion of West Bengal’s blind hatred for the capitalist America, the U.S. President found favour with 43.4 percent of youth from Kolkata who look up to him as their role model followed by 39.6 percent from Indore and 38.5 from Hyderabad and Guwahati. Microsoft’s Founder Bill Gates came second in global role model list with 16.4 percent youngsters voting for him. Interestingly it’s the technology capital of India, Bangalore that topped in the choice of Bill Gates with 34.5 percent youngsters from the city considering him as a role model for them, followed by Chennai at 28.3 percent. Indian business tycoon in UK, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal came third with 13.6 percent voting for him, chosen mainly by Patna yourth (54.5 percent) followed by 39.2 percent of Chandigarh. Tibetan religious figure Dalai Lama, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and legendary investor Warren Buffett were also voted as role models for many in India. However, 7.2 percent of the respondents said they can’t say who their global role model is and 5.6 percent don’t feel any one of the above can be their role model.