India just got a new 'youth minister', and he’s anything but young

In February 2013, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arguably, commenced — what would turn out to be — one of the most successful presidential-style campaigns in the history of India through a speech to an auditorium of select students at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

It was an unusual departure from a typical setting of a political rally where the grounds are packed with tens and hundreds of thousands of people somewhere in rural India.

In a speech full of rhetoric of development and good governance, Modi, with the media hanging on to every word, catered to his crowd and focused on the youth of the country.

He recounted a conversation with an ambassador where the latter asked what were the major challenges that India faced. Modi answered by saying the biggest challenge was how India used that opportunity.

The ambassador, intrigued, asked what exactly that opportunity was, and Modi fittingly replied that it was the youth: "Europe buddha ho chukka hai, China buddha ho chuka hai [Europe has grown old, so has China]."

The auditorium, full of optimistic youth, burst into applause at the potential of a politician focusing on the young.

In May 2014, a little more than a year after Modi’s speech at SRCC, a new government was sworn in with the new youth minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, taking charge at the age of 52.

Sonowal recently resigned to take charge as the chief minister of Assam with Jitendra Singh taking charge of the ministry at the age of 60.

Modi congratulated Sonowal after the Assam elections on his monthly radio address, Mann ki Baat, for his commitment towards sports and how he handled campaigning in Assam as well as facilitation of sports and events across the country.

Modi failed to even acknowledge that Sonowal held another ministry. This highlights the lack of attention given to the ministry of youth affairs in India. 

But the blame can’t be put on the Modi government alone when the problem has been persistent from the beginning.

If you look at the past few ministers for youth affairs and sports, Sunil Dutt died in office when he was appointed to take over the ministry at the age of 75, and MS Gill was 71 when he was appointed (2008).

The youngest minister to hold the portfolio, Jitendra Singh, was 40 when he was appointed during UPA's regime in 2012. 

In contrast, the UAE just appointed its youth minister, who is 22. 

The problem does not stop at just the individuals leading the ministry. The youth affairs ministry itself is coupled with the sports ministry — as seen in many countries — with the sports department taking priority in India.

It seems as if policies and opportunities towards the youth take a back seat until the Election Commission announces elections where politicians and parties prop the "youth" cause to capitalise on a fairly significant vote bank. (One-third of india's population is between the age of 10 to 24, and 41 per cent below the age of 20.)

Unfortunately, the "youth" factor is capitalised only during elections and forgotten after the votes have been cast.

Yes, you could argue that there has been a shift with the new government as it incorporates new ways, like social media, to reach out to a larger and younger audience. But what is the point of reaching out to the new generation when the approach towards youth affairs is the same as it has been in the past.

It makes you wonder how India’s youth — often jobless and ignored — would feel if the person in charge of the ministry and policy orientated towards youth was actually young.

Modi ended his talk at SRCC by expressing that the country should stop thinking about the youth as "new age voters", but accept them as "new age powers". However, Modi government has failed in ushering that change by appointing Vijay Goel as the minister of state for youth affairs and sports.

India needs a youth minister who can not only be easy to relate to, but also raise her/his voice of concern for the youth.

He should guide our policy and approach to youth affairs in such a way which benefits a country with one of the largest youth populations in the world.