Corruption - Monitoring and Market Research Company did not even visit the MMRDA grounds where activist Anna Hazare sat on a fast in December 2011 for the Lokpal Bill. Instead, the

12 | nation | H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IM O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 0 6 , 2 0 1 2

KumKum Dasgupta■ [email protected]

Sharrom Yezdegardi, 25, is ananti-corruption ‘crusader’. But he is not a flag-waving,chest-beating and sloganeering

type. He did not even visit the MMRDAgrounds where activist Anna Hazaresat on a fast in December 2011 for theLokpal Bill. Instead, the young MBA,who works for a travel company inMumbai, is itching to pen an anti-cor-ruption song and start a campaign toinculcate the right “value system” inprimary schoolchildren. “Bribery is atradition in this country. It is now in ourDNA,” says Yezdegardi forcefully.

Like Yezdegardi, young India, as the2012 HT Youth Survey shows, is verymuch alive to the challenge of corrup-tion. “Many among us followed theLokpal Bill debate keenly. After all, mostof us have had to pay bribe at least oncein our lives,” explains Aditya Bharadwaj,22, a student at the School of Planningand Architecture, Bhopal.

In 2011, Transparency International'sCorruption Perception Index ranked

India 95th out of a total of 183 countriesthat were surveyed.

According to the HT survey, overtwo-fifths of young Indians (42%) havepaid a bribe and the proportion is moreor less the same among men andwomen. Among the cities, there is veryhigh incidence of bribing (more than75%) in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh andHyderabad and very low in Chennai,Mumbai and Kolkata. “This shows thatif systems are in place (like in Mumbai),people don’t feel the need to bribe evenif they are willing to do so,” says SantanuGupta who teaches economics of cor-ruption as part of a public-private part-nership course at XLRI, Jamshedpur.“The willingness to bribe is high in Delhiand Mumbai because people flock tothese cities for opportunities.” Says TRRaghunandan, a former civil servant,and now with www.ipaidabribe.com, acitizens’ initiative which is trying touncover the market price of corruptionin India: “Corruption = monopoly plusdiscretion minus accountability.”

Interestingly, while the young areserious about the issue, they don’t shyaway from downloading pirated soft-

ware or films. “Every individual is acreature of opportunity and in a dys-functional system like ours, people willdo such things,” explains Raghunandan.

While Raghunandan agrees withSharrom that bribing is a widespreadphenomenon here, he doesn’t attributeit to a lack of a value system. “Humanbeings are conformists by nature. Peoplefollow what the majority do. In India,we are yet to achieve a critical mass ofhonest people. Once we do that, cor-ruption will decrease.”

He believes that India’s anger againstcorruption is following a predictabletrajectory: thanks to India’s colonialpast, there was a fear of the govern-ment. But now with economic growth,citizens have become confident andrealise that corruption is stoppingdevelopment. Corruption, says, the for-mer babu, is a crime of calculation.“Economic liberalisation and politicalcompetition might reduce it in the longrun because both tend to limit arbitraryexercise of monopoly power”.

As for the impact of corruption onIndia, 80% of young Indians feel that itis making the system inefficient while

50% believe it is a necessary evil. Whenit comes to punishing the corrupt, 29%of the respondents support public sham-ing of the corrupt and seizing theirproperties and 18% are for better laws.

Raghunandan, however, feels thatstrong laws alone cannot stop corrup-tion in an evidence-based judicial sys-tem like ours. Instead, the country needsto deepen systemic reforms, unveilstrong anti-corruption and monitoringplans (even Mongolia has one), andimplement policies that disincentivisecorruption.

DOUBLE TALK 50% of young Indians think corruption is a necessary evil

BRIBING IS SHAMEFUL: Yes, of course, I feelashamed but now it’s become a habit.BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH THE CORRUPT: Publiclyshaming them.ARE WE MORE TOLERANT OF CORRUPTION: Yes,Indian people avoid wasting their time in followinglong procedures.FREE BUT ILLEGAL: Well, no one wants to wastetheir money unnecessarily on original software. Plus,pirated software is easily available in the market.

BRIBING IS SHAMEFUL: Yes, it makes me feel helpless too.BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH THE CORRUPT: Public shamingand not trusting them again.ARE WE MORE TOLERANT OF CORRUPTION: Yes. Withoutcorruption in some form, it is difficult to live and get workdone.FREE BUT ILLEGAL: Downloading stuff from the internetdoesn’t really count. I haven’t really done this myself butmy friends do.

ANIRUDH SINGH 24 YEARSMANAGER, New-In restaurant, Bhopal

A crime of calculation

TOMORROWYouth’s Habits and Consumption

WEB BUZZ■ Are India's corrupt and dishonest becomingrole models for youngsters in the country? Tojoin this discussion and for more on the HTYouth Survey, log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Tune into Fever 104 FM for additionalcoverage of the HT Youth Survey

ILLUSTR

ATION

: RA

HU

L

HAVE YOUR EVER PAID A BRIBE?

WHO IS PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FORSTOPPING CORRUPTION?

IF YOU HAVE TOBRIBE, WOULD YOU FEELASHAMED?

■ Hyderabad, at 83.8%, accounted for the highest incidence of those purchasing pirated software ■ 90% of Ahmedabad’s youth reported bribing a cop to escape higher fines ■ 41% of respondents from Lucknow admitted to having used influence in school or collegeadmissions ■ In contrast to an all India average of 19.9%, a third of Delhi’s youth said that they had obtaineda passport or driving license without following due procedures

■ 96% of Ahmedabad’s respondents said they have paid a bribe while 77.3% of Kolkata’s youthsaid that they have never done so■ A higher percentage (47%) of 18-to-21 year olds said that they have paid a bribe vs thosebetween 21 to 25 years (36.9%)

■ 94% of Chandigarh’s youth said they wouldnot be ashamed to pay a bribe, followed byAhmedabad at 74.5% ■ The highest number of respondents who saidthey would feel ashamed was in Lucknow at73.5%, followed by Delhi at 61%

HAVE YOU EVER…Purchased pirated software

Taken public transport without buying a ticket25.3%M 27.5%, F 23.1%

62.2%M 58.5%, M 65.8%12.5%M 14.1%, F 11.0%

46.2%M 43.7%, F 48.6%

9.3% M 10.7%, F 8.0%

YesNoCS

Paid to get your passport or driving licence without going through proper channels

19.9%M 22.5%, F 17.3%61.0%M 59.7%, F 62.3%19.1%M 17.7%, F 20.4%

YesNoCS

Used influence to get yourself or someone youknow into a school or college?

24.4%M 26.3%, F 22.6%58.1%M 56.5%, F 59.7%

17.5%M 17.2%, F 17.7%

YesNoCS

YesNoCS

44.5%M 45.6%, F 43.4%

Illegally downloaded a song or movie from theinternet for free

Paid a cop money to avoid paying a higher finefor a traffic violation

46.0%M 44.8%, F 47.3%

27.9%M 31.2%, F 24.7%

47.5%M 47.7%, F 47.3%

59.7%M 55.2%, F 64.2%

6.5%M 7.5%, F 5.4%

12.4%M 13.6%, F 11.1%

YesNoCS

YesNoCS

No

45.3%Yes

42.0%

M 42.6% F 48.0% M 44.0% F 40.0% M 13.4% F 12.0%Won't Say

12.7%

Big Business 3.3% Non-Govt Organisations 7.9% Can't Say 0.8%

ARE INDIANS MORE OR LESS TOLERANTOF CORRUPTION THAN OTHERS?More Tolerant

39.4%M 37.1%, F 41.8%

25.5%M 26.4%, F 24.7%

17.8%M 17.6%, F 17.9%

17.2%M 18.9%, F 15.6%

Less Tolerant Equally Tolerant Can't Say

39.3%M 41.8%F 36.7%

45.1%M 41.2%F 49.1%

Yes NoCan’tSay

15.6%M 17.0%F 14.2%

Government

44.6%M 43.0%, F 46.1%

NoTicket

All Citizens

31.3%M 31.4%, F 31.3%

Myself

12.1%M 14.1%, F 10.1%

HAS ANYONEEVER STOPPEDYOU FROMOFFERING ABRIBE?

29.7%M 29.8%F 29.7%

Yes 27.7%M 31.0%F 24.3%

42.6%M 39.2%F 46.0%

Can'tSay

No

■ Ahmedabad had the highest share (68%)of respondents who said they had not beenstopped from offering a bribe, whereasChandigarh, at 50.3%, had the highest shareof those who had been stopped

Methodology: Youth Survey 2012 was carried out by MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems among 7021 urban youth in 15 state capitals and major towns in India— Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, andChandigarh in the North; Kolkata, Patna, Guwahati in the East; Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore in the West; and Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi in the South. Target respondents were bothmale and female from age group 18-25 years. The respondents were either currently undergraduate students (or above) or employed with graduate education (or above). Respondents were selected at thehousehold level.Disclaimer: The survey data is a copyright of HT Media Limited and MaRS Pvt Ltd. Any use of this survey data would lead to infringement of the copyright and may result in legal action against the infringer.

VOX POP: RANDOM VOICES OF THE YOUTH FROM ACROSS THE NATION

CorruptionGRAPHICS: MUKESH SAH

SHWETA VIJAY KUMAR 23 YEARS, MBA student at The Institute ofChartered Financial Analysts of India, Gurgaon

Survey conducted by MaRS

Sample size:

18-25 Years

7,021Students

5,367Employed

1,654Male

3,506Female

3,515Are you a Saint or a Sinner? Take our corruption test :www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Cities

15

■ Lucknow tops the city rankings for youth thinking that Indian’s are more tolerant of corruption than thosein other countries

12 | nation | H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IT U E S DAY, F E B R U A RY 0 7 , 2 0 1 2

M: 4

4.1%

F: 2

3.9%

M: 2

9.1%

F: 3

7.9%

M: 6

.0%

F: 7

.4%

M: 3

.2%

F: 2

.7%

M: 2

.1%

F: 2

.0%

WHAT IS YOURPREFERREDMODE OFTRANSPORT ?Car/Bike34.0%

Bus 33.5%

Auto 20.7%

Metro 6.7%

Cycle2.1%

M: 1

5.4%

F: 2

6.0%

Walk 2.9%

HOW DO YOU MAKE BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS?**

Email

5.7%3.6%*M: 5.6%; F: 5.8%M: 4.3%*; F: 3.0%*

Twitter

6.3% 2.2%*M: 5.9%; F: 6.6%

M: 2.3%*; F: 2.1%*

M: 25.4%25.8% *

F: 28.2%28.5% *

M: 20.8%22.5%*

F: 20.3%22.0%*

F:20.0%8.8%*

■ Highest numbers of Facebook announcers came from Mumbai (45.5%),followed by Delhi (43.1%)■ Chennai has the highest SMS users

M: 21.2%11.2%*

Telephone

30.8%35.1%*

SMS

26.8%27.1%*

In person

20.6%22.2%*

Facebook

20.6%10.1%*

TIME SPENT DAILY READING NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES

30 Min-1 Hr

27.8%M: 26.9%F: 28.7%

15-30Min

17.2%M: 19.0%F: 15.4%

Don’t: Read/Not

Much12.2%M: 10.7%F: 13.6%

5-10 Min16.1%M: 15.1%F: 17.0%

An Hour or More6.9%M: 7.4%F: 6.3%

10-15 Min19.9%M: 20.7%F: 19.0%

■ Overall, 27.8% peo-ple read for 30 min-1hour, with the highestnumbers in Jaipur(50.5%), Hyderabad(49.3%) and Bhopal(46%)

YOUR PREFERRED EXERCISE ROUTINE IS...

Don't Exercise

8.2% 0.8%*M: 7.1% 0.6%*F: 9.4% 1.1%*

Outdoor Sports

14.1% 18.1%*M: 19.4% 20.5%*

F: 8.7% 15.0%*

Gym

16.7% 23.5%*M: 21.5% 34.6%*

F: 11.9% 8.9%*

Yoga

17.9% 19.5%*M: 12.7% 13.2%*F 23.0% 27.9%*

A Walk In The Park

43.1% 38.0%*M: 39.3% 31.2%*F: 47.0% 47.1%*

M: 31.6%34.2% *

F: 29.9%36.0% *

Samar Khurshid■ [email protected]

The largest youth population inthe world seems to be grow-ing more active each year, beit in their personal lives or the

public sphere, suggests the 2012Hindustan Times Youth Survey. Moreyoung Indians are watching televisionfor news, even if it means reading less;and many more are taking daily tripson the information super highway.

Last year, popular social networkingwebsites Facebook and Twitter turnedout to be both tools of social interac-tion as well as demonstration. The num-ber of respondents who used Facebookto make announcements to their friendsjumped from 10.1% in the previous sur-vey to 20.65% this time around — a sta-tistic that got a big ‘dislike’ from ad-man Suhel Seth. “People want to wearwhatever they have as badges of hon-our,” he says, referring to incessantonline status updates.

The recent Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) controversy in the UnitedStates created a global wave of dissentamong the youth. Many saw the Indiangovernment’s threats to ban ‘objec-tionable content’ online as an echo ofthese controlling policies. ShishirShukla, 24, a chartered accountant inDelhi says, it is important to raise one’svoice against web censorship. “Thiswhole business of censorship is com-ing up because some people put upweird content — they should be blocked.It shouldn’t hamper everyone else. Imight not go out and protest but I woulddefinitely raise my voice on the inter-net by blogging and posting whereverpossible on how unfair it is,” he says.Either way, without Facebook and

Twitter, people might need to shut downtheir computers and log in to the realworld.

As digital media grows ever strongerand all-pervasive, young people arereading less. Over 60% of respondentsspend less than half an hour readingnewspapers or magazines every day.Fewer consider newspapers as animportant source of news — 37.4% in2011 down to 23.2% in the 2012 survey—a thought that gives us print journal-ists sleepless nights. Meanwhile, inter-net usage is rising. With tablets, inter-net TV, mobile broadband and 3Gsevices, the web has become easilyaccessible. In September 2011, Indiacrossed the 100 million internet usersmark. HT’s survey showed that 24.1%of participants said they were onlineseveral times a day, while 35.1% saidthey used the net once daily — that’s alot of fingers clicking away.

“These are signs of hurried timesand attention deficit disorder,” saysSeth. The growing importance of theinternet, whether for news or socialnetworking, is because “people want toachieve more with less. They wantknowledge from a vending machine.Impatience is now a virtue, no longera calamity.”

While print media faces an uphillchallenge, the fascination with televi-sion and the internet has anything butebbed. Almost half the respondents,48.8% to be exact, rely on television fortheir news. Television debates withbelligerently-talkative anchors, whomake as much news as they show, seemto be winning out over the humdrumeditorials of news dailies.

But Rajiv Makhni, managing editor,technology, NDTV, says even televisionis losing out to the web. “Now there is

no such thing as prime time television.Because of the net, news and informa-tion is available at any time,” he says.Many might have thronged the JaipurLiterature Fest this year but the ideaof getting an e-version of everythingcould soon turn into a reality. When theyoung consumers demand this, theindustry giants can do nothing but sup-ply. “The power of the written word willcome back through apps on smart-phones and tablets. Eventually therewill be an amalgamation of television,online and print — 360 degrees of content,” says Makhni.

The young and the restless are alsotaking to physical fitness — perhapsexplaining why Hrithik Roshan’s ten-week abs made such big news. Almosttwo-thirds of the surveyed populationconsider fitness a part of life ratherthan a necessary burden. This six-packculture, as Seth calls it, has madegrooming of the body more importantthan grooming of the mind. “Earliersix-packs were associated with beer.Now it’s about six-pack abs, about howyou look and not what you are,” he sayswith disdain.

Psychologist Pulkit Sharma says thefitness trend is “definitely not a con-cern with health. It is an appearanceaddiction common among both sexes.”Women prefer laid-back yoga routineswhile more men work out at the gym.But 43.1% of respondents favoured awalk in the park. Best guess? Dog own-ers killing two birds with one stone.

The future of India seems to bebright — tech-savvy, lively, fit and polit-ically aware. The recent advertisingwar between two rival newspapers inChennai suggests differently. Maybethey need to get their facts right.

(With inputs from Shubhi Vijay)

MEDIUM TO MAKE ANNOUNCE-MENTS: In person, as feelings andexpressions are not possiblethrough internet or phone. GO ONLINE: It depends on my need,usually if I am expecting an officialmail. YOU VIEW FITNESS AS A...: It is anecessity for a healthy life.

MEDIUM TO MAKE ANNOUNCEMENTS :Prefer to text friends over Facebook oremails. GO ONLINE: A lot of my work is doneonline. I find the internet a very useful tool.YOU VIEW FITNESS AS A … : A necessaryburden. It is important to keep yourself fitand in good shape, but I don’t have thetime for exercise.

REHA KHANNA, 20 YEARSStudent, Pearl Academy of Fashion, Delhi


Methodology: Youth Survey 2012 was carried out by MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems among 7021 urban youth in 15 state capitals and majortowns in India— Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Chandigarh in the North; Kolkata, Patna, Guwahati in the East; Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore in the West;and Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi in the South. Target respondents were both male and female from age group 18-25 years. The respondents wereeither currently undergraduate students (or above) or employed with graduate education (or above). Respondents were selected at the household level.Disclaimer: The survey data is a copyright of HT Media Limited and MaRS Pvt Ltd. Any use of this survey data would lead to infringement of the copyrightand may result in legal action against the infringer.

Habits & Consumption


Age 18-21Years

3547

Age 21-25Years

3474Student but part-time employed

1575

GRAPHICS: MUKESH SAH

HOW OFTEN DO YOU ACCESSTHE INTERNET?

35.1%About Once

A DayM: 32.6%; F: 37.6%

12.6%Several Times

A WeekM: 14.0%; F: 11.1%

24.1%Many Times A DayM: 25.9%; F: 22.3%

10.3%About Once A WeekM: 9.7%; F: 10.9%

7.9%Less OftenM: 8.3%; F: 7.5%

10.0%Never

M: 9.4%; F:10.5%

■ 66% of Jaipur’s youth access the internet once a day,followed by Ahmedabad (54%)and Lucknow (51%)■ Surprisingly, 55.8% of Chandigarh’s youngsters saidthey never access internet, followed by Patna at 42.5%

JITENDRA SINGH RAWAT 24 YEARS, Theatre Artist, Jaipur

TOMORROWYoung India’s Role Models


WEB BUZZ■ Are you an oversharer on social networkingplatforms? How much sharing is too much? Tojoin this discussion and for more on the HTYouth Survey, log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

What makes today's youth happy? Check out our Youth Survey videos on:www. hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Full-timestudents

3792

Male

3506Female

3515

Cities

15Employed

1654

Sample size:

* 2011 Survey figures **Multiple Responses

ILLUSTRATION: RAHUL

The young and the restless@ THE GYM Social networking platforms are rising in popularityand young India is increasingly flexing those muscles

■ Fitness is ‘a part of life’ for 91.9% of Hyderabad’s youth,followed by Indore (91.1%), Bhopal (91%) and Jaipur (86%) ■ 52% of the respondents in Ahmedabad are ‘indifferent’ tofitness, followed by Chennai at 35.6% and Mumbai at 24.7%

12 | nation | H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IWE D N E S DAY, F E B R U A RY 0 8 , 2 0 1 2

That’s the way they‘like’ it

BEST INTERNATIONAL ROLE MODEL: I worship Lionel Messi. There is no escap-ing his charm on or off field.SEXIEST MAN ALIVE: David Beckham isthe sexiest. I like the way he plays, his tattoos and his style.SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE: For her prettyface and her sizzling moves, our Sheila akaKatrina Kaif.

INDRAJIT CHATTERJEE20 YEARS, student, Kolkata

BEST INTERNATIONAL ROLE MODEL: BillGates, because he does a lot of charitywork and his success is an inspiration forthe youth. SEXIEST MAN ALIVE: I haven’treally given sexy men a thought.SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE : Its definitely got to be Angelina Jolie.She is truly an international star.



■ Salman Khan was chosen by70% in Patna, 44.7% inChandigarh and 39% inAhmedabad as the sexiest manalive■ Rahul Gandhi was chosen by52.9% of Hyderabad’s youth,34.6% in Bhopal and 25.6% inChandigarh

WHO ARE THE BEST INDIAN ROLE MODELS FOR THE YOUTH?

WHO IS THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE?

WHO IS THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE?

14.8% 16.4%*

APJ Abdul Kalam

11.3% 19.3%*

SachinTendulkar

M: 13.5%; F: 17.4%M: 9.3%*; F: 9.9%*

15.4% 9.6%*

Shah RukhKhan

M: 17.1%; F: 12.5%M: 17.5%*; F: 15.3%*

M: 11.6%; F: 11.0%M: 22.7%*; F: 15.8%*

M: 9.0%F: 9.9%

M: 10.3%F: 5.7%

Sonia Gandhi . . . . . . 7.5% 7.7%*M: 6.2%; F: 8.9% M: 6.4%*; F: 9.1%*

Amitabh Bachchan . . . . 6.7%M: 6.4%; F: 6.9%

MS Dhoni . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1% 6.0%*M: 6.8%; F: 5.3%M: 5.7%*; F: 6.3%*

Narayana Murthy . 5.3% 2.9%*M: 5.2%; F: 5.3% M: 2.6%*; F: 3.2%*

Ratan Tata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6%Mukesh Ambani . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6%Kiran Bedi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1%Amartya Sen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5%Pt Ravi Shankar . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2%Chanda Kochhar . . . . . . . . . . 0.6%Can’t Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6%None of them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2%

Shah Rukh Khan ■ 67% in Patna chose him followedby 26.6% in Kolkata

Abdul Kalam ■ He was chosen by 47% in Cochin,33% in Bengaluru and 31% inJaipur

Sachin Tendulkar ■ 18.3% in Kolkata chose him,followed by 16.7% in his home-town Mumbai and 16.5% in Delhi

9.4%AnnaHazare

8.0%RahulGandhi

Justin Bieber . . . . . . . . . 4.3%M: 4.9%; F: 3.7% David Beckham . . . . 4.0%M: 4.9%; F: 3.1% Justin Timberlake 3.9%M: 4.0%; F: 3.8% Johnny Depp . . . . . . . . . 3.0%M: 3.2%; F: 2.7% Brad Pitt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9%M: 2.9%; F: 2.8%Robert Pattinson . . . 2.7%M: 1.4%; F: 3.9% Ashton Kutcher . . . . . . . 0.8%M: 0.9%; F: 0.8% Can’t Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1%

Salman Khan28.1% 26.3%*M: 28.6%; F:27.6%M: 24.4%*; F: 28.2%*

Rahul Gandhi14.9% 9.6%*M: 15.3%; F: 14.5%M: 9.3%*; F: 9.9%*

Hrithik Roshan14.7% 19.7%*M: 13.6%; F: 15.9%M: 18.7%*; F: 20.8%*

Katrina Kaif33.6% 27.9%*M: 31.6%; F:35.5% M: 27.0%*; F: 28.8%*

BipashaBasu13.9%M: 13.7%F: 14.2%M: 12.9%*F: 14.0%*

Jennifer Lopez7.7% M: 9.8%; F: 5.6%

■ Katrina Kaif is the sexiest womanalive with highest shares comingfrom Chandigarh (73.9%), Patna(67%) and Lucknow (64.5%) ■ Angelina Jolie was voted the sec-ond sexiest woman alive — 28.2% inHyderabad, 27.5% in Ahmedabadand 26.6% in Delhi chose her

Kareena Kapoor . . . . 6.2% 12.0%*M: 6.2%; F: 6.1% M: 10.1%*; F: 13.9%*

Shakira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2% 6.2%*M: 5.0%; F: 7.3%M: 6.9%*; F: 5.5%*

Paris Hilton . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.0% 1.7%*M: 3.2%; F:2.8% M: 1.9%*; F: 1.4%*

Beyonce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5%M: 2.7%; F: 2.4% Lady Gaga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1%M: 2.1%; F: 2.1% Kate Middleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7%M: 1.6%; F: 1.7% Catherine Zeta-Jones . . . . . . . . 1.2%M: 1.9%; F: 0.6% Can’t Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8%M: 5.2%; F: 4.3% None of Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9%M: 2.4%; F: 1.5%

Lionel Messi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2%M: 4.4%; F: 3.9%

Hillary Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8%M: 4.0%; F: 3.6%

Kate Middleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6%M: 1.9%; F: 3.2%

Warren Buffett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2%M: 2.2%; F: 2.3%

Can't Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2%M: 6.9%; F: 7.5%

None of Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6%M: 6.4%; F: 4.9%

WHO ARE THE BESTGLOBAL ROLE MODELSFOR THE YOUTH?

Barack Obama 28.0% 29.3%*M: 29.9%; F: 26.0%M: 28.5%*; F: 30.1%*

Bill Gates 16.4% 19.4%*M: 17.6%; F: 15.2% M: 20.4%*; F: 18.3%*

LN Mittal 13.6%M: 12.3%; F: 15%

Dalai Lama 8.2% 8.9%*M: 7.6%; F: 8.8% M: 9.3%*; F: 8.5%*

Mark Zuckerberg8.2%M: 6.8%; F: 9.6%

Barack Obama■ 43.4% of Kolkata’s youth chose him as theirtop global role model, followed by Indore (39.6%), Hyderabad and Guwahati (bothat 38.5%)Bill Gates■ 34.5% youth in tech-centre Bengaluru chosehim, followed by Chennai at 28.3%LN Mittal■ Chosen by 54.5% in Patna, followed by 39.2%in Chandigarh

John Abraham12.1% 11.3%*M: 11.2%; F: 12.9%M: 11.1%*; F: 11.5%*


Role Models


Age 18-21Years

3547

Age 21-25Years

3474Student but parttime employed

1575

TOMORROWThe state of mind of our youth in 2012


WEB BUZZ■ Are you an oversharer on social networkingplatforms? How much sharing is too much? Tojoin this discussion and for more on the HTYouth Survey, log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

What do today’s youth want to be? Check out our Youth Survey videos on:www. hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Full-timestudents

3792

Male

3506Female

3515

Cities

15Employed

1654

Sample size:

POKE The Facebook generation’s choices often defy conventional logic

ILLUSTR

ATION

: RA

HU

L

* 2011 Survey figures

Angelina Jolie15.3% 10%*M: 14.7%F: 15.9%M: 11.3%*F: 8.6%*

AMAN KUMAR MANIK,18 YEARS, CA student, Delhi

Aasheesh Sharma■ [email protected]

The ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ ofIndian youth are as tough topredict as the English weather, or if you please, the

next Facebook status message. Theycan look up to Kalam’s intellect oneinstance and drool over Katrina’s curvesthe next. The youth of the nation embod-ies all the contradictions and chaos thatcharacterise contemporary India.

Consider the pecking order in theHT– MaRS Youth Survey 2012. Best liv-ing Indian role models? Shah Rukh, APJAbdul Kalam, Sachin Tendulkar. Mostpopular global role model? Ahem, a cer-tain Barack Hussein Obama. TheAmerican president’s views on out-sourcing notwithstanding, he contin-ues to find favour with 28% respon-dents. And where does he get thebiggest thumbs up from? Kolkata, perceived by many to be the last retreatof India’s Left-leaning youth, or what-ever is left of the species.

Social scientist Shiv Visvanathanisn’t surprised. Obama is placed to cap-ture the middle ground, he says. “He isa strange amalgamation of the left andthe right. I expect him to top most pop-ularity lists, with the innovators. Thepresident of the US gets the most soundbites. Obama’s a winner by default.”

THE TEFLON ICONS In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan wasreferred to as the Teflon President sincenone of the muck surrounding himstuck. A few desi role models appearto have developed similar powers.Whether it is unkind critics or angryfans, our indefatigable ‘youth’ icons con-tinue to hold sway.

The team’s fizz may have fizzled outDown Under, but the wait for the hun-dredth hundred didn’t dent the appealof Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Ask for-mer cricketer Atul Wassan why Sachincontinues to be among the top 3 Indianrole models for the second year run-ning and he says, “Coming from a mid-dle class background, he has achievedeverything that Indian youth aspire for:the respect of rivals, material richesand the tag of a world-beater. His risefrom underdog to top dog is the stuffmiddle class dreams are made off.”

Shamsul Islam, associate professorof political science with DelhiUniversity’s Satyawati College, who hasbeen involved in street theatre sincethe 1970s, says that all three top rolemodels have left a big impact on massmedia. “Shah Rukh, Sachin and Kalamare the media’s darlings as they have amind of their own and are not shy ofspeaking it. These are the kind of iconstoday’s youngsters, hooked to socialnetworking sites, identify with.”

BODY BEAUTIFULSalman Khan, often referred to as ourown James Dean, Bollywood’s latest hitmachine, was voted sexiest man aliveahead of Rahul Gandhi, Hrithik Roshan,John Abraham and Johnny Depp.

So, in the same week PresidentPratibha Patil was announcing that herrole models were Indian women whoworked in factories and farms —Katrina, voted the sexiest woman —was working the box office shaking herbooty in Chikni Chameli.

If you frown upon Sallu’s penchantfor discarding his shirt, think again.Actor, lyricist and writer Piyush Mishrasays Salman and Katrina have the X-factor. “The intelligentsia is overrated.You may debate over acting skills, butyou can’t argue against mass appeal. Iam a big fan of Katrina’s body of work.Whether it is Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraor Agneepath, she delivers what isexpected of her. ”

Rashmi Bansal, the bestselling authorof Stay Hungry Stay Foolish and the edi-tor-publisher of youth magazine JAM,says the movie Shah Rukh made thisyear was below standard. “For me,Aamir is a bigger icon for the youth.”

But then, the Facebook generationoften defies conventional logic. Don’tbelieve us? Ask Mark Zuckerberg. Hepolled just 8.2 % votes in the global rolemodel category.

| metro special | 13H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IT H U RS DAY, F E B R U A RY 0 9 , 2 0 1 2

HOW HAPPYARE YOU?

■ 90% in Jaipur described themselves asvery happy, followed by 82% in Bengaluruand 74.9% in Chandigarh ■ Indore (32.7%) has the unhappiest youth,followed by Hyderabad at 32.4%

■ Jobs are the cause ofmaximum worry for 92.9%of Hyderabad respondents,followed by Jaipur (92.5%)■ 93.9% of Hyderabad’syouth worry about howthey look, followed byJaipur (86%) andAhmedabad (83.5%)■ Worry for success is thehighest in Ahmedabad(84%)

HOW WORRIEDARE YOU ABOUTYOUR FUTURE?

M: 24.9%20.8%*

F: 25.7%20.6%*

F:12.5%3.7%*

A lot

39.5% 40.3%*

M:42.1%45.4%*

F:46.2%44.2%*

Somewhat

44.1% 44.8%*

Not at all

16.4% 14.9%*

M: 39.6%39.6%*

M: 18.4%15.0%*

F:14.5%14.7%*

■ Delhi tops the city list with 52.2% worrieda lot about their future, followed byGuwahati (51.5%) and Mumbai (46%).■ Indore youth are the least worried (33.2%)followed by Lucknow (28.5%) and Chennaiand Chandigarh at 27.6% each

Parents 42.4% 49.8%*

Friends 32.0% 24.5%*

Girl/Boyfriend 5.3% 3.7%*

Money 8.1% 7.8%*

College 6.7% 7.8%*

Work 5.5% 5.3%*

■ 26.5% of the respondents considerthemselves very stylish across allcities, with the highest in Jaipur(48.5%), 42.2% in Chandigarh and39.5% in Lucknow■ Only 16.5% overall do not careparticularly about being stylish, with35.7% in Chandigarh, 31.3% inChennai and 23.1% youth in Kochi

Neither happy nor unhappy

25.3%20.7%

Unhappy

13.2% 4.7%

HOW STYLISHWOULD YOU CONSIDERYOURSELF?

DO YOU WORRY ABOUT…WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

ModeratelyStylish

57.0%

Very Stylish

26.5%Don't ParticularlyCare About Style

16.5%14.1%

19.0%

29.6%23.4%

56.3%

57.6%

Getting a job

75.0%M: 74.2%; F: 75.8%

25.0%M: 25.8%; F: 24.2%

Finding love

47.4%M: 47.4%; F: 47.5%

52.6%M 52.6%; F: 52.5%

Achieving success

66.0%M: 63.8%; F: 68.1%

34.0%M: 36.2%; F: 31.9%

What peoplethink

about you

47.3%M: 46.2%; F: 48.3%

52.7%M: 53.8%; F: 51.7%

How you look

65.0%M: 60.6%; F: 69.3%

35.0%M: 39.4%; F:30.7%

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

M: 41.3% 46.1%*

F: 43.6% 53.7%*

M: 30.2% 25.7%*

F: 33.8% 23.2%*

M: 6.5% 5.4%*

F: 4.6% 5.3%*

M: 6.2% 4.4%*

F: 4.4% 3.1%*

M: 9.2% 9.6%*

F: 7.0% 6.0%*

M: 6.7% 7.8%*

F: 6.6% 7.8%*

Can’t Say

1.0%M: 1.0%; F: 1.0%

Yes

No

Yes?

F:39.3%41.1%*

?

Very happy

61.5% 74.6%*

M:13.8%5.6%*

■ Money makes 23.3% of Delhi’syouth happy, followed by Mumbai(10.4%), Guwahati (7.5%) andChennai (7.3%)■ Friends are the second biggestcause of happiness, with 58% inAhmedabad saying so, followed by55.4% in Hyderabad and 48.7% inKochi

M: 61.3%73.6%*

F: 61.8%75.7%*

HT Research■ [email protected]

Millions of smileys are exchangedover the latest iPhones andBlackBerrys. ‘Likes’ and

‘tweets’ flood social networking sitesdaily, but Youngistan, it seems, is not ahappy place right now.

The Hindustan Times - MaRS YouthSurvey 2012 reveals that 62% young-sters in India’s cities consider them-selves happy, a significant drop fromlast year’s 74%. The survey, conductedamong 7021 urban youngsters in 15cities, tried to explore the ‘state of mind’of today’s youth.

Youth in Jaipur, Bengaluru, Kochiand Chandigarh turned out to be theshiny, happy people, registering hap-piness much above the national aver-age. But those in Indore, Bhopal, Patnaand Hyderabad had a case of the blues,with well over a quarter respondentsdescribing themselves as unhappy.

A slew of scams, a sluggish econo-my and a gloomy job scenario are thepossible factors that may have sulliedthe smile of young Indians.

But there is another factor —you.“Your thoughts have the power tomake you happy or sad. Your choicesand priorities can determine your stateof mind,” says Sameer Malhotra, headpsychologist, Fortis Hospital, New Delhi.

So, what factors aid and abet young-sters in their pursuit of happiness?

Advertisements may insist ‘har ekfriend zaroori hota hai’, but despite thegeneration gap and ideological tussles,42% respondents felt that their parents

are their chief source of joy, rankingfriends only second.

Actor Minissha Lamba says that thisis a sweet sentiment. “I believe this canhappen only in India where we still valueour family bonds,” she says.

A minority (8.1%) felt that moolahmakes their world go round – youngIndia maybe be aspirational, but notnecessarily money-minded. And whatabout personal relationships?Girlfriends and boyfriends gave just5.3% youngsters a reason to smile.

But life is not sunny side up for theseyoungsters, with all sorts of warts andworries giving them sleepless nights.

Not surprisingly, be it BPO employ-ees or newbie managers, work madeonly a measly 5.5% youngsters happy.After all, who doesn’t complain aboutwork, right? But in a times-are-a-chang-ing twist, more full-time employedfemales were happy than their malecounterparts.

Jobs are the biggest headache, mak-ing three in four youngsters chew theirfingernails in anxiety. Success, the nat-ural ally of jobs, worries 66% young-sters. “Waiting for companies to comefor recruitment was scary. Even thosepeople who landed a job were jitteryand uncertain,” says Aditi Saxena, 22,an recent economics graduate.

In the age of male fairness creamsand anti-aging treatments featuringmodels barely out of their teens,looks,also unsurprisingly, worry two in threeyoungsters. A slightly higher propor-tion of young women (69%) fret overtheir looks than young men (61%).

Interestingly, while 19% women said

that they do not care about being styl-ish, only 14% men agreed, proving thatthe metrosexual, preening-and-groom-ing man is here to stay. Good news,ladies.

But Lamba isn’t too happy about thistrend. “Media and the consumer goodsindustry puts too much pressure onlooking good, making people feel thatit is the most important thing. Oneneeds to be strong to not get boggeddown by such pressure,” she said.

Being physically fit is important, butspending too much time in front of themirror finding faults is unhealthy. “Ifyou keep struggling to achieve an idealbut are never content with the way youlook, it can lead to body image issues,”cautions Malhotra.

Formula One race driver and youthicon Narain Karthikeyan also feels thatlooks should not be an obsession. “Youare what you are. I feel there are moreimportant things to concentrate on.”

Finding that elusive thing, love, wor-ries 47.4% of India’s young, and theworry is more underlined among theyounger respondents in the 18-21 agegroup. Perhaps the older ones havealready found their valentine.

And finally, more than half of the participants said that they couldn’t care less about what others think ofthem. Devil-may-care rebels?Individualists, say both Lamba andKarthikeyan.

“It’s not rebellion. It’s just that theyknow exactly what they want,” said the‘fastest Indian’ in the world.

(With inputs from Navdeep KaurMarwah and Vinayak Pande)

Being young ain’t much funHAPPY GO LUCKY They may have less to smile about this year,but the youth still consider family as their chief source of joy

I WORRY MOST ABOUT: Achieving success — it matters a lot in this competitive atmosphere.WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY: Friends. It's funbeing with them.STYLE QUOTIENT: Pretty stylish. I like todress up.WORRIED ABOUT LOVE? Not really.

ADITI GUPTA, 19 YEARSStudent, School of Open Learning, Delhi

I WORRY MOST ABOUT: With my exams on,I am worried about the results.WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY: My friends andfamily who are always with me.STYLE QUOTIENT: I don’t worry about beingstylish.WORRIED ABOUT LOVE? I am a romanticperson but don’t worry about finding love.

ROOPA DAS, 18 YEARSBE, Rishi Raj Institute of Technology, Indore





State of Mind


Age 18-21Years

3547

Age 21-25Years


1575

TOMORROWCareer and Money


WEB BUZZ■ Given the recent crackdown on Facebook,Google and Twitter for 'offensive' material - arewe losing our sense of humour? To join thisdiscussion, log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

What makes today’s youth happy? Check out our Youth Survey videos on:www. hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Full-timestudents

3792

Male

3506Female

3515

Cities

15Employed

1654

Sample size:

ILLUSTR

ATION

: RA

HU

L

| metro special | 09H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IF R I DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 0 , 2 0 1 2

Spend More Than Income/Allowance

14.6% 21.4%*

M: 17.0%, 21.5%*F: 12.3% 21.4%*

Spend As Much As Income/Allowance

26.6% 20.2%*

M: 25.5% 21.2%F: 27.7% 19.2%

Save Some Money

58.8% 53.7%*

M: 57.5% 53.0%*F: 60.0% 54.5%*

DO YOU LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS?

■ Youth in Hyderabad save the most with 72.5% reporting so, followed by Guwahati(71%), Kolkata (68.5%) and Bhopal (67.5%) ■ Males in all cities spend more than their income/allowance except for Bhopal andBengaluru, where females spend more than they earn

■ 92.9% in Hyderabad would like to work for the government, followed by 92% in Kolkata,90.5% in Guwahati and 89.5% in Jaipur ■ Lucknow tops the cities where youth wish to work fora social welfare organisation, with 70% saying so, followed by Kolkata (63.9%) and Guwahati(61.5%) ■ Hyderabad tops the surveyed cities for those who wish to work for an MNC

WHAT DO YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY ON?■ all figures in rupees

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR WHILE CHOOSING A CAREER OR A JOB?■ Salary was cited as the mostimportant factor while choosing acareer by 54.3% in Chandigarh, fol-lowed by Guwahati (49%), Patna(48.5%) and Bhopal (47.5%)■ Job security is more importantthan salary for the youth in Kolkata,Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow,Ahmedabad and Kochi■ Parents’ wishes are accorded thehighest priority by youth in Delhi(20.8%) followed by Mumbai(18.7%) and Ahmedabad (12.5%)

10.8% 12.6%*

M: 12.2% 12.2%*

F: 9.3% 12.9%*

16.9% 14.1%*

M: 16.9% 15.1%*

F: 16.9% 13.1%*

33.0% 41.6%*

M: 35.9% 42.2%*

F: 30.0% 41.0%*

Others

15.7%13.4%*

SalaryJob security

Companyprofile ???

23.7% 18.0%*

M: 21.0% 16.9%*

F: 26.3% 19.1%*

Job Title

Clo

thes

M: 5

93

F: 5

47

M: 4

21F:

382

M: 3

89

F: 3

50

M: 4

04

F: 2

82

M: 3

36

F: 3

28

M: 3

55

F: 2

80

M: 2

79

F: 3

58

M: 2

66

F: 2

49

M: 2

56

F: 2

29

M 2

57

F 22

4

569 407 381 353 332 318 291 258 242 241

Spor

ts(g

ym)

Liqu

or

Girl

frie

nd/

Boyf

riend

Pers

onal

groo

min

g

Phon

e bi

ll

Cig

aret

tes

Mov

ie

Fast

food

Cof

fee

shop

s

WOULDYOU LIKETO…

71.4% M: 69.7%; F: 73.1%

26.8%M: 28.3%; F: 25.2%

Can’t Say 1.9%M: 1.9%; F: 1.8%

28.9%M: 30.7%; F: 27.0%

68.7%M: 66.8%; F: 70.7%

Can’t Say 2.4%M: 2.5%; F: 2.3%

45.9%M: 43.3%; F: 48.5%

51.2%M: 53.8%; F: 48.7%

Can’t Say 2.9%M: 2.9%; F: 2.8%

41.9%M: 41.2%; F: 42.6%

56.5%M: 57.1%; F: 55.9%

Can’t Say 1.6%M: 1.7%; F: 1.5%

63.7%M: 62.2%; F: 65.2%

33.6%M: 34.7%; F: 32.5%

Can’t Say 2.7%M: 3.0%; F: 2.3%

48.3%M: 49.8%; F: 46.7%

49.2%M: 48.2%; F: 50.2%

Can’t Say 2.5%M: 1.9%; F: 3.0%

Work for thegovernment

WorkOverseas

Work for asocial welfareorganisation

Be an entrepreneur Join

politics

Workfor anMNC

Yes

No


Creativity, not cashBEYOND SALARY Dump tradition, it’s time to think differently

MONTHLY EXPENDITURE: I'm very care-ful. I have an excel sheet of my expenses.GOAL IN LIFE: My personal relationshipsmatter more than making money quickly.CHOICE OF CAREER DEPENDS ON: I want a job where I interact constantlywith people.IDEAL WORKPLACE: Abroad.

PARIKSHITH SAMBASIVAN, 23 YEARS, PR Executive, Mumbai

MONTHLY EXPENDITURE: Well, let’s just say I manage to save a little bit of myallowance.GOAL IN LIFE: To be rich enough. CHOICE OF CAREER DEPENDS ON:Salary, company profile and designation.IDEAL WORKPLACE: MNC. Governmentpays you way less!

SACHIT SWAROOP,21 YEARS, engineering student, Delhi

VOX POP: RANDOM VOICES OF THE YOUTH ACROSS THE NATION


Methodology: Youth Survey 2012 was carried out by MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems among 7021 urban youngsters in 15 state capitals andmajor towns in India— Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Chandigarh in the North; Kolkata, Patna, Guwahati in the East; Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore in theWest; and Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi in the South. Target respondents were both male and female from age group 18-25 years. The respondentswere either currently undergraduate students (or above) or employed with graduate education (or above). Respondents were selected at the household level.Disclaimer: The survey data is a copyright of HT Media Limited and MaRS Pvt Ltd. Any use of this survey data would lead to infringement of the copyrightand may result in legal action against the infringer.

Career and Money


Age 18-21Years

3547

Age 21-25Years


1575

TOMORROWYouth and Society

Tune in to Fever 104 FM for additionalcoverage of the HT Youth Survey

WEB BUZZ■ Given the recent crackdown on Facebook,Google and Twitter for 'offensive' material - arewe losing our sense of humour? To join thisdiscussion, log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

What do today’s youth want to be? Check out our Youth Survey videos on:www. hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Full-timestudents

3792

Male

3506Female

3515

Cities

15Employed

1654

Sample size:

ILLUSTR

ATION

: RA

HU

L

Gautam Chikermane■ [email protected]

If you’re in B-school and planningto walk into the arms of a highly-paid, low-risk career, brace up. Theroad to a predictable, easy-money,

designation-spewing corner cabin isgetting steeper.

Salary, that sweet starting point everygraduate yearns for, is getting harder todecipher and will lag expectations. Leavealone job security, even career stickinessis fast becoming a relic. The only rule fortomorrow’s worker: there are no rules.

And if you think this fantasy scenariobelongs to the future, it is a future thathas already happened. Compare jobseekers with existing workers and theone difference, as the Hindustan Times-MaRS Youth Survey 2012, shows is agrowing existential disconnect betweenthe two. While the most important fac-tor when choosing a job remains salary,the divide between job seekers andexisting workers is noticeable (37% ofthe former see salary as important com-pared to 29% among existing workers.)In an age where you, for all practicalpurposes, design your own designation,this relic is falling by the wayside.

What’s becoming increasingly impor-tant is something that schools and col-leges have forgotten to nurture, parentsand teachers have crushed, students andapprentices have smothered to belong—that crazy thing called creativity, pas-sion, drive, and a spark that lights up anintegral life. Again, this is something exist-ing workers, who are experiencing thechange, have understood marginally bet-ter than aspirants to the shifting labourmarket: while 7.1% of workers feel this is

the most important factor while choos-ing a job, the number for aspirants is 4.7%.

Curiously, seven out of 10 people wantto serve the government, that risk-free,relatively low-salaried job. But how doyou work creativity into this? By look-ing at the opportunity break-up. In citieswhere economic development and theaccompanying opportunities are want-ing, the percentage of government job-seekers is high — nine out of 10 inHyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati andJaipur. This skew falls slowly and lyingat the other end of the spectrum is thesuper entrepreneurial Ahmedabad,where fewer than two out of 10 want agovernment job; and the corporateentrepreneurial Mumbai, where lessthan half seek that safety.

Interestingly, less than one in threewant to be entrepreneurs in India’s com-mercial capital, while in the nationalcapital, the fraction is two in three.While government jobs may be hot onthe youth agenda, politics is not. Lessthen a third of those polled wanted tolead the country.

Step back from the traditional trapsand the picture gets more humane.While 30% of India’s youth ticked beingrich as their most important life goal,44% opted for that fuzzy thing called‘happiness’. Here, we find a gender ben-der that bows before women. 38% ofmales said happiness was crucial; thenumber for females was 50%. The sur-prises came from Guwahati, where 63%people sought happiness and Indore,where 67% pursued money.

The survey results perhaps displaythe growing pangs and accompanyingcontradictions of a complex nation, cur-rently under economic and social recon-

struction — an economic growth thatat 7% is considered ‘slow’; a massivemigration to the cities; a pressuretowards individuality as the currencyof familial warmth gives way to therefuge of consumerism. All of which ispushing isolated young people towardsthe stability of money.

Except that it is a mirage. One of theperks that a growing economy offers isthe opportunity to do what you love,the money usually follows.

Over the next four decades, you willchange three to five careers as knowl-edge drives work to frontiers that todaywe don’t think exist. You will probablydeliver profits for a company as a physi-cist, work for an NGO to save the planet.If you’re adventurous enough, you couldbe in upcoming careers like genetic coun-selling or sky-farming. In fact, even rou-tine jobs will become knowledge inten-sive where your supervisor will merelybe a coordinator — there will be a trans-fer of authority and swagger towards you.

Welcome to that delicious future.

| nation | 11H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M BA IS AT U R DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 1 , 2 0 1 2

Apolitical

34.1 % 20.4%*

M: 28.9% 19.7%*

F: 39.3% 21.1%*

■ 83.5% respondents from Bengaluru think that corruption is India’sbiggest challenge, followed by 82.5% in Patna.

■ Global warming was the second biggest challenge, with 70% respon-dents from Bengaluru saying so, followed by Chandigarh (47.2%) andAhmedabad (45%).

Population Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6% 11.1%*

Poor education system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1% 10.7%*

Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.8% 10.2%*

Cost of living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2% 4.3%*

Lack of infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1% 1.7%*

Poor health system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1% 1.2%*

Lack of entrepreneurial spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4% 0.7%*

■ 51.7% respon-dents in Delhi,50.5% in Bhopaland 43.7% inChandigarh saidtheir politicalviews are Hindutvadriven.■ 55.1% youth inHyderabad, 43.2%in Chandigarh and39% in Patnadescribe theirviews as secular.

Cross-border terror

18.5% 22.8%*

Global warming

19.1% 14%*

OTHERS: HIV/AIDS: 6.6% 3.1%*

M: 7.0%; F: 6.1 %M: 2.7%*; F: 3.6 %*

ReligiousFundamentalism:6.2% 3.1%*

M: 6.0%; F: 6.5%M: 2.9%*; F: 3.3 %*

First World-ThirdWorld Divide: 6.1%4.15*, M: 6.0%; F: 6.2%M: 4.2%*; F: 3.9 %*

Racism: 6.0% 1.0%*

M: 5.5%; F: 6.5% M: 0.9%*; F: 1.0 %*

Oil crisis: 2.7% 0.7*

M: 2.7%; F: 2.7%M: 0.9%*; F: 0.5 %*

Depleted waterreserves: 2.4% 0.7*

M: 2.8%; F: 2.0% M: 0.9%*; F: 0.5 %*

■ Terrorism is the biggestchallenge facing the world.83.3% of Bengaluru’s youththink so, followed by Indore(54.5%) and Mumbai (40.7%)■ The highest support forglobal warming, the secondbiggest challenge, also camefrom Bengaluru (84%), fol-lowed by Ahmedabad (57%)and Bhopal (31.5%).

Corruption

29.1% 22.9%*

INDIA’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS...

THE WORLD’SBIGGESTCHALLENGESARE...

TerrorismM: 30.7%, 26.5%*

F: 29.1%, 25.5%*

29.9% 26.0%*

Economic InstabilityM: 12.2%, 4.5%*

F: 14.4%, 5.1%*

13.3% 4.8%*

UnemploymentM: 12.7%, 4.6%*

F: 12.3%, 4.5%*

12.5% 4.5%*

Not Mentioned

9.5% 0.4%*

Others

30.0% 30.3%*

Global WarmingM: 27.7%, 33.9%*

F: 20.4%, 36.0%*

24.0% 34.9%*

IlliteracyM: 11.6%, 7.9%*

F: 13.8%, 7.9%*

12.7% 7.9%*

Poverty and HungerM: 9.3%, 9.5%*

F: 10.8%, 7.6%*

10.1% 8.6%*

Yes

58.1% 55.1%*

M: 60.1% 59%*

F: 56.2% 51%*

No

41.9% 44.9%*

M: 39.9% 41% *

F: 43.8% 49%*

■ Overall, 58.1% ofrespondents reportedvoting in the last elec-tions. The highest sharescitywise were inHyderabad, Lucknow,Kolkata and Bhopal, withwell over over 60% say-ing they voted.■ The highest numbersof those not votingcame from Bengaluru,Ahmedabad and Indore.

Sanchita Sharma■ [email protected]

Who rocks the votes in India?Everyone but urban youth,insist psephologists, and for

a change, they seem to have got it right.Clean governance tops young India’spolitical mindspace, but that’s wherethe notion stays: in their heads.

Young India wants corruption anddivisive politics to go, but their concernis not translating into votes.Countrywide, almost one in three(29.1%) surveyed put corruption asIndia’s biggest challenge, with 83.5%respondents in Bengaluru outraged atthe way scams, big and small, havetaken over governance and polity.

Yet only 26.8% of Bengaluru youthvoted in the last election, an astound-ingly small number compared to 96.6%youth in Hyderabad, for whom cross-border terror was the biggest concern,with corruption polling only 5.4% votes.

“Disenchantment apart, lakhs ofyoung people are left out of the elec-toral process because they are not reg-istered as voters. This year, nearly 3.83crore new voters were registered, ofwhich 1.11 crore had turned 18-19 onJanuary 1, 2012,” said SY Qureshi, chiefelection commissioner of India.

“It’s the biggest empowerment ofyouth on a single day anywhere in theworld. With 70% of the country’s pop-

ulation under 35 years, they must usetheir voting power to get the govern-ment they want,” added Qureshi, whostarted National Voters’ Day last yearto bring the youth in the electoralprocess. Last year, 52 lakh 18-and-19year-olds enrolled in January.

The number of young people whovoted in the last elections — both atstate and municipal levels — went upmarginally from 55.1% in 2011 to 58.1%in 2012, against the national average of59.7% in the 2009 general elections.Overall, men were more politically par-ticipative, with 60.1% voting as com-pared to 56.2% women. Almost 40%women described themselves as apo-litical, compared to 28.9% men, butmore men said their politics was secu-lar (36%) compared to women (22.2%).

“Cynicism still keeps urban youthaway as there is huge disgust againstthe failure to deliver. The newfound fervour to fight corruption must leadto voting. I tell them, ‘If you don’t vote,then shut the f**k up,’” says admanPrahlad Kakkar, who organises cam-paigns on politics and voting across col-leges in the country.

Unlike in France and the US — thetwo major democracies going to pollsthis year — where a stable economyand jobs, followed by terrorism andnational security, are the primary con-cerns among two in three young vot-ers, young India’s greatest worries after

corruption were global warming (19.1%)and cross-border terrorism (18.5%).Spiralling population and poor educa-tion delivery were the other leadingconcerns in 2012.

Compounding the disconnect is thegrey cabinet. “What’s the point of vot-ing for people who don’t even speak thesame language,” says Madhulika Brar,21, a third-year commerce student atDelhi University. “They worry aboutcaste and communal votebanks, whenwhat people want are jobs, schools andhospitals,” she adds.

More than 50% of India’s populationis under 25 years and if you raise thebar to 35, 70% of the country’s inhabi-tants are covered, shows Census 2010data. This makes India home to theworld’s largest youth population. Yet,at 79, Prime Minister Manmohan Singhis one of the world’s oldest heads ofstate, with a cabinet, on an average,twice as old as the country’s medianage. SM Krishna is the oldest ministerat 79 going on 80, while the youngest,Agatha Sangma, will turn 32 in July.

“If the government wants youth con-nect, they should get a young Memberof Parliament to tweet on issues ofemployment, jobs, governance and cor-ruption from the PMO account. That,and not the current mind-numbingtweets, will get Singh trending and makegovernance a talking point among theyoung,” says Kakkar.

Apolitical, but not apathetic

VOTED IN THE LAST ELECTION? Yes,it’s the only way to elect the right person.POLITICAL VIEWS: Secular. Nation-building is important, not religion.

INDIA’S CHALLENGE: Poor educationsystem. GLOBAL CHALLENGE: Water resourceswhich are on the verge of exhaustion.

ANKUSH CHOPRA 25 YEARS,PR executive, Chandigarh

VOTED IN THE LAST ELECTION? No, my vot-ers’ ID wasn’t ready in time.POLITICAL VIEWS: Apolitical. Politics ismessed up and I don’t care anymore.INDIA’S CHALLENGE: Corruption, it’s thecause of all other problems. GLOBAL CHALLENGE: Illiteracy. Education makes us aware of our rights.

PRERNA JOSHI 21 YEARSGraduate, LSR College, Delhi


DID YOU VOTE IN THE LAST ELECTION?

YOUR POLITICALVIEWS ARE...

Secular

29.1%40.0%*

M: 36.0% 41.2%*

F: 22.2% 38.7%*

Conservative

25.1%29.2%*

M: 23.4% 28.4%*

F: 26.9% 30.1%*

Left Wing

10.3%8.0%*

M: 10.0% 8.4%*

F: 10.7% 7.5%*


SHAKE UP Corruption and bad governance must go, says young India


Methodology: Youth Survey 2012 was carried out by MaRS Monitoring and Research Systems among 7021 urban youngsters in 15 state capitals andmajor towns in India— Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Chandigarh in the North; Kolkata, Patna, Guwahati in the East; Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore in theWest; and Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi in the South. Target respondents were both male and female from age group 18-25 years. The respondentswere either currently undergraduate students (or above) or employed with graduate education (or above). Respondents were selected at the household level.Disclaimer: The survey data is a copyright of HT Media Limited and MaRS Pvt Ltd. Any use of this survey data would lead to infringement of the copyrightand may result in legal action against the infringer.

Youth and Society


Age 18-21Years

3547

Age 21-25Years


1575

Tune in to Fever 104 FM for additionalcoverage of the HT Youth Survey

For complete coverage of all Youth Survey topics: Corruption, Habits and Consumption,Role Models, State of Mind, Career and Moneyand Youth and Society, log on to:www. hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Full-timestudents

3792

Male

3506Female

3515

Cities

15Employed

1654

Sample size:

ILLUSTR

ATION

: RA

HU

L

WEB BUZZ■ February is election month across Punjab,UP etc. What are the most important issuesaccording to the youth in these states? To jointhis discussion and more,log onto:www.hindustantimes.com/youthsurvey2012

Documents

Corruption - Monitoring and Market Research Company did not even visit the MMRDA grounds where activist Anna Hazare sat on a fast in December 2011 for the Lokpal Bill. Instead, the