June 14, 2007
 

Geriatrics zindabad! Symbolism zindabad!

A 83-year-old and a 72-year-old will probably end up contesting an election for the presidency of a country where around 60% of the population is aged between 15 and 59.

Keep in mind that the current Prime Minister is 74-years-old and the incumbent Preisdent is 75-years-old.

Among the 79 ministers at the centre, 13 are less than 50 years old (4 from Tamil Nadu), only 9 were born after 1960, only one of them was born after Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency, while 18 were born before 1940!

Decade	Count
1920s	4
1930s	14
1940s	31
1950s	21
1960s	8
1970s	1

I'm not saying that these old fogeys get it wrong, or that old fogeys in general don't make for good administrators. But was it that tough to pick some younger union ministers from the the 780-odd parliamentarians?

Hasn't there been an overdose of pointless symbolism? A Muslim as President, a Sikh as Prime Minister. Now, a woman as President? If the institution of the President can be diluted through symbolism, isn't it high time that institution was abolished?

PS: Shivraj Patil has got a huge laddu, but this means he continues to be the Home Minister, which is frankly more devastating news.

Labels: age, ministers, parliament, pratibha patil, president, symbolism