So well! While nearly 40 per cent of voters in India are in the 18-year-old age group, many Indian politicians are doddering old men. Many of the country's topmost positions are held by people aged 60-plus. Of the 31 Cabinet ministers, nine are in their seventies, 15 in their late sixties and three in their eighties. Only four ministers are in their forties and fifties. They do have wide experience. But what good is that when it cannot be made use of?
This is not to say that politicians need to have a retirement age; just that they
should be able to function while they are in saddle. According to one survey, the average age of Lok Sabha is 53.
Barack Obama is America's President elect, and he is just 47. He is right now busy picking his team. And the man he has chosen to run the US treasury, Timothy Geithner, is his own age and heads the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But to tackle the worst economic crisis in 80 years, Obama has recalled Paul Volcker (81), who, a full generation ago, had tackled the mid-80s' economic crisis in the US.
And the media has welcomed the choice, with SunTribune.com commenting: "Nobody knew whether his strategy would work. It certainly caused widespread pain. But by 1986, double-digit inflation was gone… Now Volcker is back… and if the president-elect follows his advice, there could be pain again and no doubt many protests but also the possibility of long-term benefits."
Indians have voted for the same thing: young dynamic leaders at the forefront, mature advisers to back them with wise counsel and the patience that comes only with age. As the TSI-ICMR survey shows, while 87 per cent believe experience plays a vital role in making a successful politician, 82 per cent still think that younger leaders would run the country a whole lot more efficiently. (See box). ....Continue
This is not to say that politicians need to have a retirement age; just that they
should be able to function while they are in saddle. According to one survey, the average age of Lok Sabha is 53.Barack Obama is America's President elect, and he is just 47. He is right now busy picking his team. And the man he has chosen to run the US treasury, Timothy Geithner, is his own age and heads the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But to tackle the worst economic crisis in 80 years, Obama has recalled Paul Volcker (81), who, a full generation ago, had tackled the mid-80s' economic crisis in the US.
And the media has welcomed the choice, with SunTribune.com commenting: "Nobody knew whether his strategy would work. It certainly caused widespread pain. But by 1986, double-digit inflation was gone… Now Volcker is back… and if the president-elect follows his advice, there could be pain again and no doubt many protests but also the possibility of long-term benefits."
Indians have voted for the same thing: young dynamic leaders at the forefront, mature advisers to back them with wise counsel and the patience that comes only with age. As the TSI-ICMR survey shows, while 87 per cent believe experience plays a vital role in making a successful politician, 82 per cent still think that younger leaders would run the country a whole lot more efficiently. (See box). ....Continue
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