29 per cent of youth in urban have no faith in political system: Study

29 per cent of youth in urban have no faith in political system: Study
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According a latest study conducted by Foundation for Futuristic Cities, 29 % of youth between the ages 21-24 do not have faith in the Political system. “The urban voter has become a mystery to people at large. 

Hyderabad: According a latest study conducted by Foundation for Futuristic Cities, 29 % of youth between the ages 21-24 do not have faith in the system. “The urban voter has become a mystery to people at large.

We see an explosion of political opinion by young urbanites on the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook before the elections but translation of that into actual ‘voting‘ has never been close to the volume of buzz they create or the chatter they generate," says Karuna Gopal , President of Futuristic Cities. She was speaking at the round table on the topic ‘A deep dive into the psyche of an urban voter’ in the city on Monday.

“The urban voter feels going to cast his vote is just not the coolest thing to do on a Saturday,” said Sriram Karri, novelist and columnist. The youth are indifferent as they feel that it would not make a difference in their lives. This disengagement stems from the fact that they are not emotionally connected and voting is not in their priority list.

The study pointed out that the youth cannot identify with caste based, dynastic choice of candidates and 'not so educated' candidates fielded by political parties.Jaywant Naidu, musician was of the opinion that one way of bringing the youth to the boot could be by setting up booths in malls instead of government schools.

Separate manifesto for each city

The BJP came up with a manifesto for Bengaluru in the recent elections in Karnataka and this could be the way forward said panelists. The urban voter would be interested if issues such as price rise, traffic problems, pollution and open spaces be included in the manifesto. One of the reasons youth show disinterest in the political process is the average politician does not connect with the youth.

Citing an example, Sriram Karri pointed out how an MLA would visit slums but would not do the same in posh areas in the city where there are crome and glass structures as he does not get an audience there. In villages, the day of voting is like a festival and the community participate but in cities this festive atmosphere is missing say analysts.

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