Many initiatives were taken in many schools to develop the interest among students to enter Indian politics. The field of politics in India is usually perceived as something that is not suited to the educated masses [1] and this perception is being changed by many school students who take up the idea of politics as their career and help promoting the cause.
In 2004, 57% of the Indian population was aged 30 years or younger; however, only 35 out of 543 Lok Sabha members (6%) were aged under 30 . [1] Nevertheless, the World Values Survey showed that the proportion of people aged 18–24 who identified themselves as "very" or "rather" interested in politics was around 50%, an increase of 15% since 1990. [2] All major political parties have youth and student wings, such as Indian Youth Congress, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and Democratic Youth Federation of India. A campaign by Young India Foundation has been raising awareness on the importance of youth rights and the essential representation they need in a country with over 670 million people below the age of 25. YIF is also leading in the Age of Candidacy campaign which is working on decreasing the age of candidacy in India from 25 to something lower. [3]
As per a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), of the approximately ₹4,000–5,000 crore total advertisement and publicity spend in 2014 Indian Parliament elections, the digital platforms can expect to garner at least ₹400–500 crore. The target audience are predictably the youth, many of them first-time voters. [4]
Shiv Sena (1966–2022) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena which has a new symbol of Mashaal (Torch) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (2022–present) which has gotten hold of the original party name and the "bow and arrow" symbol.
Sonia Gandhi is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. She took over as the party leader in 1998, seven years after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, her husband and a former Prime Minister of India, and remained in office until 2017 after serving for twenty-two years. She returned to the post in 2019 and remained the President for another three years.
Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, since June 2024. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the Indian National Congress from December 2017 to July 2019 and is the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress, the National Students Union of India, and a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi political family.
Lalu Prasad is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha.
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar is an Indian politician. He served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four terms and in the Union Council of Ministers as the Minister of Defence in the Cabinet of P.V. Narsimha Rao as well as the Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Manmohan Singh. He is the first and former president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), "which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress". His faction of the NCP was split by his nephew, Ajit Pawar. He leads his faction of the NCP in the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Indian parliament. He is the chairperson of Maha Vikas Aghadi, a regional Maharashtra-based political alliance.
Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He has also served as the minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information and Broadcasting in the Modi Cabinet.
Kumari Mayawati is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social change for Bahujans, more commonly known as Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as religious minorities since 2003.
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad, known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Malayalam. He is widely regarded to be one of the most successful and popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. Known for his uniquely styled mannerism and one liners in films, he has a huge fan base and a cult following. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 2000, Padma Vibhushan in 2016, India's third and second highest civilian honours, and the highest award in the field of cinema Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the 67th National Film Awards ceremony (2019) for his contributions to Indian cinema. He has won numerous film awards including seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award, one Filmfare Award and two Maharashtra State Film Awards.
Murli Deora was an Indian politician, businessman, and social worker. He was the Mayor of Mumbai, a Member of Parliament in both the Upper and Lower Houses, and a Minister of Cabinet rank. He was a member of the Indian National Congress.
Konidela Chiranjeevi is an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist known for his work in Telugu cinema. Known as the "Mega Star", he is widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. Chiranjeevi holds the record for the most "Industry Hits" in Telugu cinema, with eight films emerging as the top-grossers of their time—a feat unmatched by any actor in the industry's 100-year history. He is also celebrated as one of the finest dancers in Indian cinema. He has received numerous honours, including the Padma Bhushan in 2006 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2024 from the Government of India, as well as the IFFI Indian Film Personality of the Year Award in 2022. His other accolades include the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, three Nandi Awards, and nine Filmfare Awards South, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, CNN-IBN recognized him as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema". In 2024, he was honoured with a Guinness World Record as the most prolific actor-dancer in the Indian film industry.
The youth vote in the United States is the cohort of 18–24 year-olds as a voting demographic, though some scholars define youth voting as voters under 30. Many policy areas specifically affect the youth of the United States, such as education issues and the juvenile justice system; however, young people also care about issues that affect the population as a whole, such as national debt and war.
Feroze Varun Gandhi is an Indian politician who has been a three time Member of Parliament for Lok Sabha from the Pilibhit constituency. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was inducted into Rajnath Singh's team in March 2012 as General Secretary. He belongs to the Nehru–Gandhi family, which has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India since a time before the country's independence in 1947.
Kamal Nath is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for approximately 15 months and resigned after a political crisis. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from March 2020 to April 2022.
Konidela Pawan Kalyan is an Indian politician, actor and philanthropist serving as the 11th Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh since June 2024. He is also the Minister of Panchayat Raj, Rural Development and Rural Water Supply; Environment, Forest, Science and Technology in the Government of Andhra Pradesh and an MLA representing the Pithapuram constituency. He is the founder and president of the Janasena Party.
Dharmendra Pradhan is an Indian politician currently serving as the Union Minister of Education since 2021. From 2021 to 2024, he also served as the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the Government of India. An alumnus of Talcher Autonomous College and Utkal University, Dharmendra Pradhan has previously held key positions, including Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel.
Bijoy Krishna Handique was an Indian politician who was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Jorhat constituency of Assam and was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He was the only son of Krishna Kanta Handique, a renowned Indologist. Handique was a senior Member of Parliament from the North Eastern Region and represented the Jorhat Lok Sabha, Assam for six consecutive terms since 1991 to 2009. He also served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1980 to 1986. He had been elected to the Assam State Assembly in 1972 from the Jorhat constituency.
Youth politics is a category of issues which distinctly involve, affect or otherwise impact youth. It encompasses youth policy that specifically has an impact on young people and how young people engage in politics including in institutional politics, youth organisations and lifestyle.
The youth rights movement seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights movement, but the youth rights movement differs from the children's rights movement in that the latter places emphasis on the welfare and protection of children through the actions and decisions of adults, while the youth rights movement seeks to grant youth the liberty to make their own decisions autonomously in the ways adults are permitted to, or to abolish the legal minimum ages at which such rights are acquired, such as the age of majority and the voting age.
Poonam Mahajan is an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central, Constituency, Maharashtra. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has served as the National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, from December 2016 to September 2020. Mahajan was the President of the Basketball Federation of India, the first female to hold this position. In addition, she currently serves as Chair of the Maharashtra State Animal Welfare Board.
Jothimani Sennimalai, also known mononymously as Jothimani, is an Indian politician, writer, and social worker. A member of the Indian National Congress, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Karur, Tamil Nadu in 2019. Having joined politics at a young age, Jothimani served separate terms as the General Secretary and Vice President of Indian Youth Congress and Tamil Nadu Youth Congress respectively.