100 Young Achievers In Politics

Young achievers in politics who symbolise India Tomorrow

- Raj Chengappa

They are the woke generation. Much more politically and culturally aware than their predecessors but brief in their communication. They call it being ‘social’—of the twitter and WhatsApp kind. Many of them have built in less than a decade the kind of fortunes that took their parents a lifetime or more to amass. Time is no more a factor that decides their success. Neither does geography or history. Einstein would have been forced to modify his famed equation if he were alive. For this generation has used its energy to build more mass out of virtually nothing and do it at a rate faster than the speed of light squared.

Sociologists call this generation— those between 20 and 40 years of age— the ‘Millennials’. They succeeded the Lost Generation (distinct from the Baby Boomers who were born soon after World War 2), which dominated the country when India today magazine began publication on December 15, 1975. Generation X, as they are also known, came of age under the shadow of Emergency. Job opportunities lay largely in the public sector and the central government’s oppressive hand could be found everywhere. There were queues and waiting lists for practically everything, whether you wanted a telephone connection or even to buy a car.

On the other hand, the Millennials or Generation Y, as they are also dubbed, grew up in an age of reform and relative prosperity. The oldest of them was 10 years old when the Indian economy was freed from the shackles of the Licence Raj. India dumped the Hindu rate of growth of three per cent and expanded at hyper speed. The middle class burgeoned and blossomed, and private entrepreneurship came into its own.