Empowering the Young Indian Voter

We are proud to be the largest democracy in the world. For more than sixty-five years
we have witnessed the conduct of successful elections, peaceful changes of government
at the Centre and in the States, people exercising freedom of expression, movement and
religion. India has also been developing and transforming economically and socially. At
the same time we, quite often, listen complains about prevalent inequalities, injustice or
non-fulfillment of expectations of certain sections of the society. These people do not
feel themselves participative in the democratic process. Democracy means government
of the people, for the people, and by the people. It means democracy is not limited to
just a process of election, but also fulfilling social and economic aspirations of the
people
The worlds second most populous country, India, is also its largest democracy; a system
instituted over 60 years ago by national leaders and freedom fighters after enormous
sacrifices and struggles to achieve independence and to secure the citizens of the nation,
the right to participate in the process of their own governance. Thus, for India,
participation of the people in the electoral process by exercising their right to vote is of
utmost importance, without which it ceases to remain a representative democracy that it
set out to be.
However, while overpopulation, illiteracy and poverty remain amongst Indias major
economic and social problems that this system aspired to tackle, these same factors also
lead to abuse of the democratic structure itself by politicians who have continuously
exploited the gullible masses and manipulated them to cast their valuable votes on the
lines of religion, caste, creed, region, colour, race or gender. Politics in India has been
marked with taking advantage of social malaises prevalent in the country for spreading
hatred and garnering votes.
With economic liberalization and a new economic policy, the 1990s saw the rise of the
middle class in India, a class of young citizens that has benefited the most from the
nations economic boom. The emerging youth of India, well-educated, capable of
looking beyond petty issues and adept to make informed decisions, was expected to take
the baton forward for the nation and rid the political system of its malaises by electing
competent and honest representative to power.
However, the young generation of India had shown signs of not appreciating the hard-
earned right to vote. When the country went to polls earlier this decade, it was those
among the 880 million people surviving on less than $2 a day many of them illiterate
and easily manipulated by politicians who turned out in force, while the
corresponding turnout amongst the 50 million eligible voters comprising of students
and young professionals of the country, especially from urban areas, remained
abysmally low. Besides this, voter turnout was quite low in urban areas in general as
well, significantly lower than the rural parts of the nation. In Delhi, Indias capital city, it
was 47 per cent in 2004. And in some parts of the capital, it was as low as 26 per cent.
Right to vote and the exercise of this franchise by eligible citizens is the pulse of every
democracy. And India, the largest democracy of the world, holds this right as the most
precious attribute of the Indian Parliamentary democracy. Keeping this in view, in
Indian Constitution, provisions are enacted regarding structure, powers and functions
of the Election commission.
Indian Constitution - Part XV-Elections
Article 325: No person to be ineligible for inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a
special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
The article supports the preparation of one general electoral roll for each constituency,
for election to both the houses of Parliament.
Article 326 : Elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of
States to be on the basis of Adult Suffrage. Adult Suffrage is the right to vote given to
every adult citizen of India, who is above 18 years of age, with the vision of maximum
participation and providing an opportunity to the youth to select their leaders.
Tata Tea, the Worlds second largest and Indias largest tea brand. Along with a large
market presence in India, Tata Tea is also looked upon as a physical and emotional
revitaliser, a unifying force, consumed by the rich and poor, aged and young, across
social and economic strata of the citizenship in India alike. Tata tea also established
thought leadership for the brand by becoming a catalyst for Social Awakening, with the
message Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re (Every Morning, dont just get up, Wake
Up!), as the tagline for the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign.

The initiative aimed at awakening the youth of this country to the importance of
exercising their right to vote as a means to bring about the change they seek, with an
objective to create a platform that will motivate the vast numbers of Indian youth to
participate actively in the electoral process of the country. The campaign seeks to
empower the youth to influence polity by exercising their right to vote.
As citizens in a democracy such as India, ones most powerful identity is the political
identity of a voter. Yet this identity is neglected by most, either out of cynicism or out of
fear of the hurdles involved in exercising the right to vote. Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is
thus a clarion call to the youth, to jettison the cynicism and take the first step towards
citizenship. What is amazing is the fact that this is a campaign for the youth, wholly
conceptualized and executed by the youth as well.
The campaign was publicised by Tata Tea as a part of their own advertising efforts, with
television, print and online ads focussing on creating awareness and inspiring the youth
of this country to participate in the voting process, thereby creating rapid and mass
awareness for the campaign. This was integral also as demonstrated by the insights from
surveys conducted amongst youth in India, which indicated that over half of the younger
population who didnt vote faced lack of awareness. Outreach partnerships were also
made with other prominent media channels including Lok Satta Andolan (prominent
newspaper in West India), PRIA (North India), Yahoo! India, Radio One FM 94.3 and
Midday.
The campaign was a huge success, and at the onset of the 2009 parliamentary elections,
reported having registered 589,677 new voters, while driving awareness to many others.
The cutting edge technology and meticulous planning behind the campaign is illustrated
by the fact that jaagore.com was recognised as an official honouree at the 13
th
Webby
awards, an international award presented annually by The International Academy of
Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites,
interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.
Much of the interest in political process and understanding of the significance of able
leadership was embraced by the youth in the wake of terrorist attacks on the city of
Mumbai in November 2009. When the 19 year old Kaizad Bhamgara was faced with the
pain of his loss and frustration over the ineptitude of the governments response to the
aforementioned terrorist attacks, which took away the lives of three of his friends, he
was inspired to set up, initially, a facebook page, which later scaled into a Web site, a
YouTube channel and a blog, aiming to encourage his peers to vote in Indias national
elections, to be held soon afterwards.
The attacks which had left more than 170 people dead and more than 230 wounded, had
spurred Indias disillusioned middle-class youths to sudden political action, with
realisations over the dismal standards of leadership and dissatisfaction with their own
non-participatory attitude. Indian political analysts thus concluded that young voters
played an unprecedented role in determining the composition of Indias next
government.
Hence, while Indias middle-class youths blew off voting as a waste of time in the past,
the new generation technology and applications such as social media and the likes that
helped the youth engage with one another were now being used to expose the misdeeds
of political leaders and encourage them to influence the political arena by the power of
their vote. Text messaging also emerged as a new and powerful medium of awareness,
with almost 400 million people in India owning cellphones.
Such scenarios are not unique to India, and have been seen all over the world in the
recent past. The political scene in the United States was also largely influenced by new
age modes of engagement and youth participation, which has been seen as a powerful
positive intervention in one of the most powerful democracies of the world.
The time has come, for the youth to participate in the democratic process, and thus to
determine the future of their respective nations and of a democratic world which they
have to live in.