Among the world's major countries, India has the youngest population, and the oldest leaders. A startling four-decade gap between the median age of India's people and that of its government officials most recently reared its head with a heavy-handed and widely-maligned crackdown on free speech on the Internet.
History shows us that generations with an exceptionally high youth ratio create political movements that shake up their systems and leave a profound impact on history. America's baby boomers â€" the 79 million people born between 1946 and 1964 â€" led the charge in the civil rights movement and the sexual revolution.
In China, out of the stormy Cultural Revolution emerged the country's current crop of leaders, who have taken it to remarkable heights of prosperity and power. More recently, in the Arab Spring there is evidence of a strong correlation between the ratio of the population under 25 and the urge to overthrow unresponsive governments.
Whether India will follow the same path may become apparent in the very near future.
There are some signs that the beginnings of India's own youth revolt are stirring â€" the “India Against Corruption†protests, which swept Delhi on Sunday, involved a about a thousand protesters, mostly young men, who broke through barricades meant to protect their elder politicians' homes and battled with the police.
The India Against Corruption political movement unleashes youth disenchantment against the establishment, using new means of communication like Twitter and Facebook as its fuel. Still, it is headed by an iconic 75-year-old Gandhian â€" call it shades of a youth movement, with the structure of a traditional Indian family.
India now has around 600 million people who are younger than 25, and nearly 70 percent of its 1.2 billion population is under 40. It is an unprecedented demo graphic condition in the history of modern India, and in absolute numbers it is unprecedented anywhere in the world. It also comes at a time when much of the developed world and China have aging populations.
The country's median age of 25 is in sharp contrast to the average age of its cabinet ministers, 65, which is a far bigger gap than in any other country â€" Brazil and China are next with age gaps just under 30 years. In the United States the gap is 23 years, and in Germany it is less than 10.
Beyond the Internet crackdown, there are other disturbing signs that the age and thought gap between the majority of India's citizens and their aging leaders is stifling India's teeming youth.
We see this at play when the chairwoman of the National Commission for Women tells women to “be careful about how you dress,†after a young woman was sexually assaulted in public by a group of men in Guwahati.
We see it when a police officer wielding a hockey stick cracks down on Mumbai's buzzing night life, and is defended by the state's home minister. We see it in the inability to overhaul the country's jaded bureaucracy that stifles fresh ideas.
Most tellingly, perhaps, we see it in the lack of political will to open up key sectors of the economy like retail to foreign competition, under the populist pretense of protecting existing jobs. This protectionism is far removed from the economic realities of the past two decades â€" India has been one of the clear winners of globalization. But as one writer put it, “The decision-makers in the Indian political class are still stuck in the mental framework of the 1970s, which is when they were blooded in politics.â€
Because of these protectionist policies, millions of young Indians risk losing out on new jobs and technology that could substantially improve their lives.
Some may dismiss these as mostly urban issues, issues that do not affect India's vast rural youth. But the increasingly aspirational rural youth crave the lifestyle of their urban counterparts â€" and if they are not given the opportunity to get there quickly, they will have the incentive to rebel. The elite youth have the money, but crave the higher living standards of developed nations. And both groups care about jobs.
“The future of our country is today's youth and it is our responsibility to work for our country. It's a need for our country to elect right government. Educated youth are desperately needed in our politics†Neha a member of “Youth ki Awaaz†or voice of the youth posted on the online forum.
India's youthful population can be viewed as a double-edged sword â€" capable of bringing great benefit to the country in the decades ahead, but with extensive demands that, under current economic conditions, the country looks unable to fulfill.
A recent IMF report suggests that India's demographic dividend alone could contribute two percentage p oints to its annual G.D.P. growth for the next two decades, if the country adopts the right policies. A surge in the labor force with the right age structure, higher productivity due to urbanization, a low ratio of dependent people and an increased number of women joining the work force all add to this demographic dividend.
A 2010 Goldman Sachs paper projected that India's industry would need to create nearly 40 million jobs by the end of this decade to absorb this huge increase in the labor force. Aided by the demographic dividend, India could clock economic growth of 7 to 9 percent until 2030, possibly wiping out absolute poverty as we know it today, though the poverty line would then be readjusted.
Projections like this are dependent on several internal conditions â€" in India's case, that means changing its archaic land and labor laws, creating better trade opportunities and making huge investments in education and skills training. The state of the global eco nomy will be a key external variable.
Another study shows that India will have 12 percent of the world's college graduates by 2020, more than the United States, and second only to China, which will have a staggering 29 percent share. These graduates, their innovations and their patents will be the main drivers of the knowledge economy.
In simple terms, India's huge working-age population could be its biggest economic strength going forward.
Yet if you look at the pace of economic and social changes in India, you begin to wonder if the country's geriatric political elite have grasped the enormous opportunities and challenges that the country's youth represent.
Some commentators now fear that India's much touted demographic dividend is on the verge of going horribly wrong â€" that the economy may not produce enough jobs to absorb the fast-growing labor force, leaving millions of young people feeling bitter and betrayed.
Until now, most of India's young people have preferred to be silent bystanders or armchair critics of the political system, rather than actively participating in the process. A big turnoff has been the entitlement culture in the country's politics â€" of the 38 youngest members of Parliament, 33 have parents who are also politicians. But then, this entitlement culture is not restricted to politics â€" you see it in every profession, in every Indian household to an extent.
While India's affluent parents are as well-meaning as any in the world, critics say the easy inheritance they give their children breeds smug, conformist individuals, under constant pressure to live up to a legacy, rather than chart their own course and fulfill their own potential.
The most glaring example today may be Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent of the governing Congress party, who at the age of 42 is still struggling to step out of his mother's immense political shadow.
Between the 1960s and 1990s, East Asia went through a demographic transition similar to that we are seeing in India now. Aided by the opening up of their economies, the Asian tigers and China registered high growth, rapid poverty reduction and social development.
In spite of this “miracle,†many of these countries saw violent student movements against autocratic regimes, especially when faced with financial shocks.
India's demographic equation puts the ball firmly in the court of its young majority.
Faced with the prospect of a bleak future, will youthful energy challenge its sworn enemy â€" the status quo? Will India's younger generation strike back to install its own leaders and ideas? Or will it still remain aloof or just give up, and fall in line with the elders?
