State of the Nation- survey among youth of India (by Yuva-MaRs)

This survey was published in the March 2011 issue of Yuva magazine just prior to the out break of Anti corruption revolution among youth in India.

youth in India survey-State of the nation by yuva-mars

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Cyber cafes (the internet surfing centres, once the hub of youth to be online) are fading off

The cyber cafes (once the only option for mass young India to be online) is not going great now a days due to the fast-spread of personal internet connections in India.

During 2000, a study found that The average time spent on surfing [at cafes, as there's no other options] was 1.2 hours, with Delhiites logging the highest of 1.7 hours and Bangalore clicking the lowest time of 0.8 hours.The majority of frequenters to these Internet access spots were college students in the age group of 19-25 (49.1 per cent), followed by executives and businessmen in the 26-35 age bracket (32.1 per cent). The survey found that most popular activity was sending e-mail and participating in chats. A majority of them also come from affluent backgrounds.On the spending trends of cyber cafe users, the study found that video games, video cassettes and recorded music were more favoured in comparison to buying of newspapers and magazines or watching television. They spend one-third of their total infotainment budget on cyber cafes. Another interesting finding of the survey was that though 70 per cent of the cafe visitors said they were aware of Internet commerce, only a tenth of them had actually conducted transactions through the Net. The most popular items of purchase were books and CDs.

Yesterday, a news published at The Hindu indicates that with unlimited broadband connection available at less than Rs.1, 000 at home, few come in cafes (other than the students who has no net connections at their rooms). A cafe owner stated “After one year, I suspect there will be hardly any of us around, especially with 3G mobile services in such demand,”. With business having dropped by more than 60 per cent in the last few years, there is hardly any profit made now after the rental and maintenance charge, he says. "Regular scrutiny by the police which ensures cabins are not closed and the demand for details from customers irritate those who seek privacy," said a cafe owner. “We had more than 150 browsing centres in this area alone till last year. While many have shut down, the intense competition has forced most of us to offer unreasonably low tariffs of less than Rs.10 an hour,” says Kannan, who runs the fourteen-year old Galaxy Net in Triplicane. He says he makes barely Rs.8,000 (US$178) a month, which according to him hardly covers the depreciation cost of computers now. He no longer hires assistants like he used to five years ago when the business was at its peak.

Some cyber cafes still make about Rs.15,000 a month, but only by staying open for 14 hours every day. For the ones in areas where power cuts occur frequently, life is all the more difficult. Some also admit that quite often they resort to dubious means in order to survive, ranging from downloading new movie releases to allowing users to surf objectionable content!
Holding online study centres and examinations, arranging video conferencing between companies and even matrimonial alliance management for families are things we do to keep business on track, says A. Subburaman, who runs a cyber café in T. Nagar.

Since most cyber crime activities originate from cyber cafes, we are extremely strict about recording the identity of the user so that it can be tracked down,” says Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, CCB, M.Sudhakar. Regular checks by instructors also help in deciding which cyber cafes licenses are not to be renewed, he adds.

And then there are the lucky ones like Satheesh Babu, who started Genius Planet, a cyber café in 2002, only to shut it down in 2008. He says, “The regular walk-ins had stopped coming by 2007, and the customers were restricted to medical representatives, and some emergency browsers. I did face a loss of Rs.5 lakh, but that was the time to take the cue.”

Read more at : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1718950.ece
http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/businessline/2000/05/26/stories/152639z4.htm
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article993106.ece?ref=archive

Kaustav is the member of YRP (Youth Research partners http://youthresearchpartners.com). The collaborative youth insight presentation is released at YRP slideshare channel:

Indigenous trendsetters from middle east to far east

View more presentations from YRPasiaTrendsReport

Nokia has lost the "cool" among the youth in India

Nokia is loosing grip over the mobile market in India (for last 2 years) and has already gone off from being either cool or staple among youth.

here's some facts as per Mobilepundit:

• Nokia’s market share reduced from about 64% in 2008-09 to nearly 52% in 2009-10
• Samsung gained from 10% to above 17%
• In the past 3 years, Micromax, Spice and Karbonn have emerged from nowhere to become number 3, 4 and 5 respectively
• Nokia India, which is second biggest market for the company after China, contributed Rs 18,000 crore to the company’s worldwide sales in 2009
• The Indian mobile handset market has grown by 30.17 % from 116 million handsets in 2008, to 151 million handsets in 2009, as per Analysys Mason data
• As per a CyberMedia Research report, the Indian mobile handset market will grow 25% by volume in 2011 to 210 million units with smartphones contributing sales of nearly 12 million units in 2011

More information at : http://business-standard.com/india/news/reconnect/432525/

Indian male are fascinated with fairness!

Further reference http://ibscdc.org/Articles/Fairness-Products-Market-in-India-Fairing-Well.pdf

www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/221856/mens_grooming_products_in_india.pdf

Rapid growth in India, China aids fight against poverty

Thanks to rapid growth in India and China, two-thirds of developing countries are on track or close to meeting key targets for tackling extreme poverty and hunger, the World Bank and IMF said today. On the whole, the fight against poverty is progressing well, said the Global Monitoring Report 2011 noting based on current economic projections, the world remains on track to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty. "On current trends, and despite the recent global economic crisis, developing countries are on track to reach the global target of cutting income poverty in half by 2015, thanks in large part to rapid growth in China and India," it said.
The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day is projected to be 883 million in 2015, compared with 1.4 billion in 2005 and 1.8 billion in 1990. "Much of this progress reflects rapid growth in China and India, while many African countries are lagging behind: 17 countries are far from halving extreme poverty, even as the aggregate goals will be reached," the report said. India is also on track to meet the MDGs, but the scheduled tribes are largely off track, it said. "Although educational enrolment rates are fairly high for all groups, scheduled tribes suffer from high under-five mortality, poor access to water and sanitation, nutrition deprivation, and low levels of adult literacy." The report said India's strong growth-focused since the 1980s on moving from a state-controlled, inward-looking economy to an outward-oriented, market-led economy-has not been damped by its poorly performing targeted programmes. Wars have led to shifts in priorities among international donors, it said noting "China and India, with some other developing countries, have emerged as economic powerhouses." Trade bounced back in all developing regions, driven by a vibrant rebound in emerging economies. By 2010, all developing regions recovered to their pre-crisis export volumes, with East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia, especially China and India, leading this recovery. "Good macroeconomic policies remain crucial to progress toward the MDGs," said Hugh Bredenkamp, deputy director of the IMF's Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. "The challenge in low income countries is to sustain and accelerate growth through better policies that will create jobs and greater opportunities for the private sector. "Advanced economies need to do their part to secure the global recovery, by repairing and reforming their financial systems and tackling their fiscal imbalances," he said. (IANS)
Source: http://headlinesindia.mapsofindia.com/india-and-world/china/rapid-growth-in-india-china-aids-fight-against-poverty-80438.html

few of my published articles on youth insights @ India

articles on insights of youth in India (micro and macro-trends, socio psychology, AIOs)

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Anti corruption and "Hazare" are now the "element of cool"!

There's 24 badges in www.picbadges.com commercially promoting "hazare" as a brand!




The Tee shirts are also sold with "hazare" quote as an element of "cool".


Source: http://www.tshirts.in/xtees/mens-tshirt_mt00574/mera-neta-chor-hai-support-anna-hazare-fight-againt-corrpution-tshirt.htm

the serious anti-corruption movement is showing a tendency to become "COOL"!

The anti corruption movement (among the youth in India) which we have reported in our earlier post is showing a tendency to become "cool" and "fashionable". The online games are appearing as well as tee shirts and caps.

These can make the movement more "funky" and in process will dilute the seriousness to generate another "fake-o-consciousness".

Source: http://ypm.ibibo.com/

India: A global power in the making

India's shining all over again and it's not just the cricket team that's making waves across the globe. The G-20 has predicted that India will be one of the 10 largest members in the IMF and its rank in the IMF will improve to eighth position from the current 11th in terms of quota.

Leaders from across the globe are all set to meet in the US later this year for the prestigious Wharton India Economic Forum meeting to discuss how India continues to position itself to compete and succeed in the rapidly changing global environment. The theme for this year's conference is ''India: Gaining Momentum''. With an economy that's growing over 8%, that's hardly surprising.

The country is an emerging global power. R Seetharaman, the Chief Executive Officer of Doha Bank in Qatar, says "India will become one of the most sustainable economies in the future and by 2030, Asia's economy -- mainly encompassing India and China -- will be larger than that of the US and European Union combined." Seetharaman said the world has seen India and China emerging as the main contributors to the recovery of the global economy from a crisis situation.

Another point to note here is that the Sensex crossed the much awaited 20000 mark. The Indian indices defied all global markets and held its fort through the disaster in Japan and the Libya crisis. Exports too have been advancing greatly.

So what is contributing to India's stupendous growth story?


• Youth population
• An Educated society
• High domestic Consumption
• Investments
• Grass roots entrepreneurship

India's Gen Y is its best asset and will be the biggest contributor to India's growth. In the next two decades, it will add over 200 million people to its working age - between 18 to 60 years - population. Much more than any other country in the world.

For India, more working people means more income. More income means a more prosperous nation. For a country that will become a middle income nation - per capita annual wages of $1,200, translating into Rs 4,500 a month - by the end of 2010/11 after more than a century of penury, its young population presents a never-before opportunity for transition.

Now if only we elect the right leaders, there's no stopping India from being the next super power.
Source:http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/India-A-global-power-making-yahoofinancein-945208064.html

Anti corruption movement and the youth in India

During 2008, INgene reported the growing anger and irritation among youth in India against corruption (http://ingene.blogspot.com/2008/08/indian-youth-lifestyle.html) and now the obvious out break is visible through Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption. Earlier, I have also mentioned how internet is giving power to people to be aware of corruption and put their voices against corruption ( http://ingene.blogspot.com/2010/11/internet-is-giving-power-to-people-in.html).

The awareness is spreading faster throughout the country among younger generation of India and growing anger is clustering into protests even in Sec II cities (http://therealtimer.com/Nagpur-comes-out-in-support-of-Hazare). This is the time for a-political revolution against corrupted individuals in politics, Govt. officials, and social classes and this is the first time in India, the politicians were politely denied the right to join in with Hazare on stage so that nobody can gain any political advantage from it (http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/no-politicians-on-stage-anna/195861?from=NDTV) . "We've decided that politicians can't come upon the stage. If they want to come and listen, like the public, they can sit in the audience, not with me or on the stage. We've decided that no politician will be allowed to manipulate our movement," said Anna Hazare, who is on fast-unto-death demanding a strong anti-corruption law.

A new tactic of movement against corruption, which Anna Hazare coined as “Swaraj and Shivaji” (non violent yet aggressive) way is spreading through social networks (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=166826046705957) , micro blogging sites(http://www.convoflow.com/search.php?searchfield=Anna%20Hazare), bulk mails, sms texts which are considered as more reliable and “non corrupted” media to spread the awareness other electronic and printed media. It’s reported that more than 40,700 netizens have already joined the Facebook page of the movement 'India Against Corruption' (http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/apr/070411-Hazare-agitation-gathers-steam-online.htm). Even, the support is pouring from the Indian students in Oxford (report added below).

The youth are promoting this movement in their own way via youtube, like this video:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSSSwZ4BXQ8

the anti corruption movement started spreading through youtube with videos and musics like this:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQM5zHqpiVg

More photos of the movement:

Even the movie stars are voicing their protests through various alternative media:

Report:

Aamir Khan, Bollywood support Anna Hazare

6 Apr 2011, 1756 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Bollywood celebrities including superstar Aamir Khan have come out in the support of veteran social activist Anna Hazare, who is on a indefinite hunger strike demanding a comprehensive anti-corruption bill. The 72-year-old activist began his hunger strike yesterday demanding the government to draft a new Lokpal Bill, which will give more powers to Ombudsman to check corruption.

Aamir has reportedly written a letter to voice his support for Hazare's movement while other celebrities took to twitter to back the campaign. Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said, "I support Anna Hazare's fast for national debate on Lokpal Bill. Atleast need Parliament to come out and respond to issue. People like Anna Hazare will force a people's movement against the system. Like Gandhi did against the British."

Anupam Kher asked fans to join the campaign. "When somebody is fighting corruption, I don't judge his ways. I applaud his intentions and actions. I am with Anna Hazare. Are you?," he said. Actress Diya Mirza tweeted her support. "Finally, people are voicing strong support for a man that has, should and will be a great example to our generation. I support Anna Hazare."

Actor and social activist Rahul Bose said: "That it takes an Anna Hazare fasting unto death to effect systemic change is comment enough. corruption part of our DNA." Juhi Chawla said, "I am complete and absolute supporter of Shri Anna Hazare! All those with a conscience and a clean heart speak up.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar: "Overwhelming momentum generates in for Anna Hazare's fight against corruption. Is India gonna be the next Egypt??" Pritish Nandy: "Proud to see common man come out in support of Anna Hazare. It took a 72-year-old man to fast unto death to wake us up." Ranvir Shorey: "Anna Hazare's crusade is a great litmus test to see if India has any grit left at all. Or have we become a country of corrupt schmoozers."

Source: http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4369701.cms

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Report:

Support for Hazare grows in Mumbai, more youths join

7 Apr 2011, 2149 hrs IST, AGENCIES

The third day of veteran social activist Anna Hazare's indefinite hunger strike demanding a comprehensive anti-corruption bill, saw youngsters joining the campaign here in large numbers.

"My friends and I will go to the Income Tax office and hold a peaceful protest," Nandita, a student, told reporters at the sprawling Maidan where supporters of the noted Gandhian have been congregating since the last three days to show solidarity with him.

"The campaign is gaining momentum and more youth want to participate in the movement against corruption," she said.

A rally of youth was later organised, starting from the Maidan and making its way to the Gateway of India.

The protest is being supported by NGOs like National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM).

Meanwhile, villagers in Ralegan Siddhi, Hazare's native place in Ahmednagar district, today announced they will intensify their agitation to support the anti-corruption crusader.

"Now, around 350 villagers are on a relay fast. Tomorrow, we will hold a 'rasta roko', followed by a relay fast and morcha at the Parner tehsil office," Datta Awari, who handles Hazare's office at the village, told PTI.

Source: http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4369792.cms

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report:

Indian students at Cambridge University have extended support to the anti-corruption campaign being led by Anna Hazare and called for a more transparent system of checks and balances at the highest level.

In a statement, the student group Swatantra-- Forum for the Advance of Civil Society—expressed "deep concern" over the current state of governance in India and said there was "urgent need to integrate civil society as an extension of the government in order to achieve greater transparency and accountability".

"We sympathise with Anna Hazare’s demands for a strong coalition between the government and its people. Continued inaction by the previous governments over a long period of forty two years reflects poorly on the State. Further, the existing legislation does not grant complete autonomy to agencies such as the Lokpal, resulting in a weak and ineffective regulatory mechanism," said the statement issued by its "chairpersons" Abhimanyu Gahlaut and Arun Sarkar.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1611651.ece

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Report:

Anna Hazare leads People’s Uprising in India

After sweeping the Arab World, the wave of People’s Uprising has reached India. As the Uprising in the Arab World was against dictatorial rule and for bringing democracy, no one would have believed that such an Uprising could ever happen in India – the biggest democracy in the world.

Democracy alone is not a guarantee for good governance. Politicians in India have exploited the weakness of the democracy and indulged in large scale corruption. Public anger against corrupt politicians has been accumulating for last several decades and reached the tipping point after recent mega scams specially 2 G and CWG. What was needed was an outlet for people to vent their anger. Problem was that almost all political parties have been marred in corruption at some point of time and therefore the general public perception is that all politicians are corrupt. While the opposition parties were hoping to cash in on people’s anger against corruption, people were in no mood to support any particular political party.

Against this backdrop, when respected social activist Anna Hazare started his movement against corruption, it immediately touched a chord with the people across the entire country. Anna Hazare was a perfect flag bearer for the moment against corruption as he has never associated with any political party and at the same time has been working for people’s cause. The present generation of India may not have seen Gandhi but they have been recently primed in favour of the Gandhian Philosophy by the Munna Bhai series of bollywod films. Anna Hazare’s Gandhian way of protest by fasti-unto-death has invoked the Munna Bhai inspired fascinations of Indian masses.

The movement is growing manifolds with every passing hour since last two days. It has perplexed not only the Government but also the opposition parties. On one hand the Government has been forced to sit up and take notice while on the other hand opposition parties have been unsuccessfully trying to piggy back on the movement and convert the same into votes against the ruling coalition. Thankfully, the organizers of the movement have managed to keep the politicians at bay and have not allowed them to exploit the situation. Political leaders like Chautala and Uma Bharti were stopped by the public from sharing the dais with Anna Hazare and hopefully this would have given a clear signal to other politicians also.

The government on the other hand is confused. It doesn’t know how to handle this situation. If it was a protest organized by an opposition party, it would have been so easy to rubbish it by launching a counter offensive and by pointing out the corruption cases of the concerned political party. But how to deal with a 72 year old Gandhian who owns nothing, lives in a 10ft x 10ft room, has no family, is ready to risk his life by embarking on fast-unto-death and above all has suddenly become the darling of the masses. Government can not counter attack, they are forced to be respectful, they must give the impression of not rubbishing the protest and demands of Anna Hazare and yet thwart his attempt to form an independent Anti Corruption Authority called the LokPal. The Government is already having enough troubles with the existing independent authorities such as the CAG, the Supreme Court and the goof up with CVC appointment. In that sense, the ruling parties would probably get a tactical support of even the opposition parties as no political party would like to have an independent anti-corruption authority who could investigate against any minister (including the prime minister) or bureaucrat without having to seek permission.

Anna Hazare’s Movement against Corruption is fast galvanizing all social activists under one banner. Within two days the movement has spread to nearly 440 cities and towns. TV coverage of the moment looks more like a dream movie than being real news.

Soon after the World Cup victory, once again the people are out on the streets; once again the people are on a high but this time for an entirely different cause, for an entirely different purpose.

Source: http://virtualopinion.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/anna-hazare-leads-people%E2%80%99s-uprising-in-india/

Report from TV:

An advertisement against corruption:

Further reading: http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles_various/To-The-Youth-710.asp

http://www.samachar.com/Hazare-deserves-greater-support-than-cricket-team-Aamir-Khan-lehdKqegggh.html

http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20091209/236744.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/debateshow/7883197.cms

http://republicyouthfederationryf.blogspot.com/

Details of Jan Lokpal Bill can be read here:

http://www.youthforbetterindia.org/lokpalbill.html