Indian demographic dividend

What is India’s biggest blessing? Our youth, of course!! India is blessed with a demographic dividend - we have the world’s largest young population. “So what?”, one may wonder. Ask China. Just see how they are grappling with the problem of plummeting birthrate. Or Japan. See how they are overwhelmed as their population is ageing. Or the problems of geriatric population.

So how is India better? You may ask. How does youth help? So what if there are lots of youngsters. What do these youngsters think? What do they aspire for? Who are their role models? What makes them different from any other young man or woman around the world?

So what about role models? Why do we need one? Well, that is an important question. Role models have the capacity to inspire and galvanise people. Drive the population. Define the direction of an entire generation. Look how the Mahatma-led single-minded freedom struggle through non-violence. Mahatma not just won freedom for India. He became an integral part of our collective consciousness and culture. Ask any freedom fighter. He or she will tell you how they embraced the culture of minimalism - wearing Khadi, refusal to adopt ostentatious lifestyle, love for the homeland, and the list goes on. Yes, my generation has seen our teachers, uncles and aunts, grandparents, adopt minimalism. We revered our Khadi-wearing freedom fighters. And we were proud of our motherland. We cherished our freedom.

Economic liberalisation and dearth of role models

Come 20th century, we see a sea change in attitude. We revel in the success of liberalisation. Great for us. We love the freedom to splurge. Wonderful. We loved to flap our wings with the new-found money power. Excellent. We deserved to get the best. At last. Otherwise, what is the use of the hard-earned freedom. Indeed. But at what cost? Slowly and steadily, we forget our past. We forget our role models. We develop amnesia towards the leaders who gifted us the privileges. And most important, we forget our values. What values? What role models? What is minimalism? What is Khadi? Oh, a fabric we find in select stores we drape fashionably on  August 15th every year. What is charkha? The twelve-spoked wheel in the middle of our flag, right?

The collective amnesia of our past meant we firmly turn our backs to our roots. Fair enough. But what has all this got to do with our demographic dividend? We have more population now between 14 and 35 years, than any other country in the world. These are young, energetic, talented, intellectual, and ready to go. 

Media influence

If we are forgetting our past, if our collective memories are erased by the generation divide, if our role models have obliterated, or fast changing, who then fills the vacuum? Who is it that we look up to? Who drives our way of life, our thoughts and therefore actions?  If every leader worth his or her salt is savagely ripped apart, who is left behind to inspire us? It’s here that the media plays an important role. The increasing use of mobile-driven web content implies we are bombarded with messages and images more than ever before. WhatsApp alone delivers 100 billion messages per day.  Not to be left behind, Instagram receives 95 million photos a day. Whew!! To top it all, 72.74% of the Instagram users are in the age group of 18 to 24. Facebook users upload an incredible 350 million photos a day. What does the continuous bombardment imply? Our collective memory is replaced by something newer, more alluring, and more readily consumable. These messages and images do not need us give up something. Rather they encourage us to consume more. Consume more of everything. Yeh Dil Maange More! And why not? We have money power. We have the power of convenience. We have the button clicks to help us buy anything and everything under the sun.

So what, one may ask. We have worked hard all our lives for this. At least, our parents have. Or our grandparents. Are we not entitled to their combined wealth? and comforts? And conveniences?

Who are our present role models?

Well. Alright. So, who are our role models? Why am I asking these inconvenient questions? If we have forgotten our Khadis and Charakhas, there must be a solid reason behind it. There must be something equally strong and powerful that inspires and engages us day in and day out. As we avidly consume these picture-perfect images, there’s something that is tickling our subconscious. It’s the dopamine we receive from our Facebook likes, Instagram followers and WhatsApp approvals. The carefully crafted, media-driven craze essentially influences us to think the way we to think.

Look at who dominates the Insta feeds. Or the Facebook pages. It is none other than the media-crafted celebrities. So, who are these celebrities? The cinema entertainers. The sportspersons. The super-rich and the super successful business tycoons. What is common among all these celebrities? What is wrong is garnering media attention? What is wrong in being a celebrity? Or following a celebrity?

Nothing. Actually, nothing wrong in idolising a super achiever. But it is disconcerting to see how the ideals are shaped by money power. By consumption. The media frenzy around abnormal spending, and how wealth becomes increasingly newsworthy. That is what is disconcerting. When money is equated to success. Money is equated to fame and popularity. When money is practically everything under the sun. As the famous saint-poet Bhartruhari said ‘Sarve gunaaha kaanchanam aashrayanthi’ (the greatest of the qualities are attributed to the wealthy). According to his poem, drawn from his timeless Trishathi, he proclaims that the wealthiest man is perceived as from a noble family, is scholarly, is learned, has the best qualities, is a great orator, and is good-looking. So, what is the bottom line? If you want to become a role model, get rich fast. Faster the better. Or at least follow the richest.  Even as you read this article, you are bombarded with yet another news article on how expensive celebrity car is, shoes are, or purse is. Goodbye minimalism. Goodbye Gandhiji. We have forgotten you. And have replaced you with the richest guys in the globe.

 

Image Credits: Pixabay             

 

   

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