Podcast: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young

Over the course of the next decade, one million Indians are predicted to turn eighteen each month and India will be the youngest nation on earth by 2020. These young people are making new demands on their government such as greater job creation, improved teacher quality, and better air quality in cities. Are Indian leaders prepared to respond to these calls? On this week’s Asia Unbound podcast, Somini Sengupta, the United Nations bureau chief for the New York Times and author of The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young, presents the stories of seven young Indians, who came of of age following economic liberalization in 1991. Sengupta depicts a generation brimming with aspiration and eager to move beyond the constraints of their past, such as caste and family background. The stories include those of Anupam, a boy from one of India’s poorest provinces who dreams of attending one of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, and Varsha, who defies her father’s wishes in attempting to become a policewoman. Listen below to hear more about Sengupta’s take on India’s “most transformative generation.”