Here's why Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha thinks youngsters should consider politics as a profession...
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00:00Unfortunately, politics over the years have become a bad profession.
00:04That's the perception that comes with the word politics.
00:08Nobody will say become a politician.
00:10As country is becoming younger, the representation is getting older.
00:14We can't always expect 60, 70, 80, 90-year-old politicians
00:21to understand the causes of young India,
00:23to understand what we really mean, what we really need, what are our aspirations.
00:30As the youngest member in the Rajya Sabha,
00:57what do you think is some of the challenges of the youth in India,
01:02from Anita's perspective?
01:03And why is it that I think the youth in India at some points
01:08can feel so disappointed with politicians across party lines?
01:12You see, you feel disappointed and it's not just about young people.
01:15I think we as a country feel disappointed in politicians
01:19simply because there's a huge gap between what is promised and what is delivered.
01:23There is a disillusionment with the political class
01:26and politicians are considered to be people who are unemployable,
01:34unemployed, either the elite or the goons and thugs who have nothing better to do.
01:40And unfortunately, politics over the years have become a bad profession.
01:46That's the perception that comes with the word politics.
01:49I mean, when one is growing up,
01:52your parents and your elders, members in the family, members of the society
01:57will always encourage you to become a doctor, an engineer, a chartered accountant,
02:01an actor, a sports person.
02:03Nobody will say, you will grow up and become a politician.
02:05You know what I mean?
02:05Nobody will say become a politician.
02:07It's because there's a negative connotation to politics and politicians.
02:14Yes, there is a huge gap between the population
02:17and the representation of young people, as you just mentioned.
02:20And I'll give you a very interesting statistic, which I was reading a few weeks ago.
02:26In the first Lok Sabha, when independent India went to polls for the first time in the year 1951,
02:34the first Lok Sabha had about 26% of the people, elected people, who were below the age of 40.
02:43So the first Lok Sabha in the year 1951,
02:46when independent India went to polls for the first time,
02:49we had 26 members of parliament directly elected by the people in the Lok Sabha,
02:55who were below the age of 40, 26%.
02:59In the last Lok Sabha, which just ended, which is the 17th Lok Sabha,
03:03you had only 12% of the people below the age of 40.
03:07So as country is progressing, as country is becoming younger,
03:12the representation is getting older, which is a very unfortunate case.
03:16And I think people, all of us put together have to come forward and,
03:21you know, be the change that we wish to see.
03:24And we can't always expect 60, 70, 80, 90-year-old politicians
03:30to understand the causes of young India, to understand what we really mean,
03:34what we really need, what are our aspirations.
03:36And therefore, if you really want your aspirations to find a voice
03:41and find the full force of law, you have to come into politics.