ANXIETIES AND INSECURITIES

Very high religiosity High religiosity Moderate religiosity Young Indians are most anxious about parents’ health, personal health, family problems, maintaining family traditions, and jobs, in that order Not anxious at all A YEAR ago, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) conducted a sample survey-based study that sought to answer key questions about how India’s youth thought and lived. The respondents were aged 15-34, and interviews were conducted across the country. Findings of the Attitudes, Anxieties and Aspirations of India’s Youth: Changing Patterns survey, will be released in New Delhi today. Comparing these findings with those of an earlier CSDS-KAS survey conducted in 2007 allows the tracking of attitudinal change over a decade in which the youth population rose significantly, and India went through major economic, political, socio-cultural and technological transformation. Some key findings:

■ Marriage is no longer that important — in 2016, only 46% of youth aged 1534 were married; this was 54% in 2007. And in 2016, just about half of the youth thought it was important to get married; this figure was 80% in 2007. Of the married youth in 2016, a huge 84% had had arranged marriages. Even as acceptance of intercaste marriages had shot up to well over 50% from just about 30% in 2007, the outcome of intercaste marriage (those who had actually married outside their caste) was still only 4%.

■ Socially and culturally, Indian youth are yet to let go of conservative moorings. 41% agree, in varying degrees, that married women should not work, 43% believe men are better leaders, and 51% think wives should always listen to their husbands. One in 4 approved of same-sex romantic relationships. 27% expressed at least some unease about having a neighbour who cooked non-vegetarian food, 22% about a neighbour from a different religion,26%aboutanafricanneighbour,and a huge 47% about being neighbours with an unmarried boy and girl living together.

■ Three out of 5 youths are fond of wearing stylish clothes and footwear, and carrying the latest mobile phones. 39% are very fond or somewhat fond of applying fairness creams.

■ 58% are non-vegetarians; this is about the same proportion that had described themselves as non-vegetarian in a CSDS survey in 2006.

■ This is a highly anxious generation, weighed down by worry and stress. 78% of 18-25-year-olds worried about employment; among 15-17-year-olds, the biggest worry for the largest number (83%) was education. In the hierarchy of worries, parents’ health topped all age groups; harassment/teasing came last for 15-34year-olds. In general, urban youth were more anxious, as were youth with higher economic status and better education.

Graphic: Mithun Chakraborty