NEW DELHI: Cool, confident and a little complacent.That describes the Indian youth. What's more, unlike a decade ago, the post-reform generation isn't worrying about the future.
Only 7 percent of GenX Indians are worried about finding employment and a mere 5 percent get anxious about financial stability, reveals a new Snynovate study released this week.
As 20-year-old Neha Sikdar says: "Why should I worry? The job market has opened up and there are hundreds of avenues today."
It sums up the attitude of the New Age Youth who knows where they're headed. The study shows that the Indian youth is very different from his or her Asian counterpart.
For example, nearly 19 percent of young Asians are worried about their ability to get a good job and 16 percent are worried about financial stability, a much higher figure compared to India.
"A lot of them do not explicitly mention any real concerns either.
This clearly indicates their optimism and bullish attitude," says Amit Adarkar, director, Synovate, the global market research company that conducted the survey across eight countries.
Youth aspire to be wealthy, successful and educated. Their career choices range from business ownership (12 percent), medicine (10 percent), academics (10 percent) to working in the government sector (10 percent). Most of it is common to India, except that IT (13 percent) is the top choice here.
Indians gave a strong thumbs down to corruption in the corridors of power. Environmental issues such as pollution do worry them. "I feel very...
...upset about the way we take the environment for granted," says 16-year-old Raghav Chauhan, "Our cities are so dirty and no one seems to care where they're throwing trash or how they are contaminating air and water," he says.
"They feel people should be sensitive to these issues, and instead of adding to the problem, try to solve them," adds Adarkar.
Indian youth also feel that the masses in their country are becoming more and more parochial in their outlook. Interestingly, world peace, a cliche that has graced the lips of many beauty queens, is still a concern for most young Asians.
It is the No. 1 change they seek to make the world a better place (18 percent). Indians, however, are more pragmatic: they think (27 percent) both society and government have to change to make a difference. Peace is lower on the priority list.
Despite their worries, youth in Asia are excited about what the future holds for them: 16 percent are excited about having a relationship and family, while 15 percent are excited about being independent and influential.
The level of excitement is much higher in India. The study reveals that the youth are waiting to grow up quickly so that they can enjoy adult pursuits; 9 percent of Asian youth (same for India) want to graduate to drinking alcohol, travelling and having sex.
Synovate conducted the survey across Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and India. In India, the survey was conducted in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.