Top Ten Young Leaders in India - Top Young Politicians in India

One of the hottest topics  often heard in Indian political gatherings all across the country is that the youth should play a more prominent role in politics and public administration.But the fact is, despite the presence of youth wings of all major political parties, the presence of youth in national politics is inadequate.In the current Indian Parliament, which has an average age of 53 years, there are only 79 leaders who are under 42. Most of them are well-educated. Of these, most young leaders are those who have an influential political background to back them up. A few young Members of Parliament are ministers as well.

Britain, the country from which we derived much of our political framework, boasts of a 43-year-old PM in David Cameron. But back home, we have to make do with the likes of Manmohan Singh. Oldies like Sharad Pawar, S.M. Krishna, Karunanidhi, Pranab Mukherjee, L.K. Advani, Kapil Sibal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee etc. dot the Indian political landscape.

Pakistan recently appointed a 34-year-old elegant and beautiful Hina Rabbani Khar as their foreign minister. In India, none of the young MPs have been considered good enough to head an important ministry and have always been appointed as junior ministers.

Let's take a look at 10 prominent young politicians of India many of whom are also ministers:

NAVEEN JINDAL

BORN: 9 March 1970

Born to O.P. Jindal, who was a prominent Indian industrialist and politician, Naveen Jindal represents the Kurukshetra constituency in the state of Haryana on the ticket of Indian National Congress. An MBA from the University of Texas, Jindal owns 45 horses and a polo team. He fought a long legal battle for the legalization of flying of Flag of India inside and atop non-governmental buildings and institutions and emerged victorious. He then founded the Flag Foundation of India, a non-profit body to promote the national flag.

SACHIN PILOT 

BORN: 7 September 1977

Son of deceased Congress politician and Union Minister Rajesh Pilot (who was also a Squadron Leader in the Air Force and hence the name “Pilot”), 33-year-old Sachin Pilot represents the Ajmer constituency on the ticket of Indian National Congress. A management graduate from the prestigious Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA; he is presently the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology. He is married to the daughter of Farooq Abdullah

JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA

BORN: 1 January 1971

The young scion of the Scindia family of Gwalior is a 40-year-old Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. He represents Indian National Congress as an MP for the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh. His father Madhavrao Scindia was a prominent Indian politician and minister from the Congress Party.

After earning a management degree from the Stanford College in the United States, he worked as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley and also gained some development experience working as an intern with the UN Economic Development Cell.

AGATHA SANGMA

BORN: 24 July 1980

Representing the Tura constituency of Meghalaya on the ticket of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Agatha Sangma is the youngest MP (and minister as well) in the Indian Parliament. The 30-year-old Minsiter of State for Rural Development is the daughter of P.A. Sangma, a prominent Indian leader and politician, and former speaker of the Lok Sabha. Sangma has a Masters degree in Environmental Management from Nottingham University, UK.

AKHILESH YADAV

BORN: 1 July 1973

The son of the Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh is an MP from the Kannuaj constituency in Uttar Pradesh. An engineer by qualification, he is party's Uttar Pradesh president and is spearheading the campaign to bring back Samajwadi Party to power in 2012 in UP assembly elections. Akhilesh's wife, Dimple, unsuccessfully contested the by-election for Firozabad Lok Sabha seat (in U.P.) in 2009 against actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar

DUSHYANT SINGH

BORN: 11 September 1973

Son of Vasundhara Raje, the ex-chief minister of Rajasthan (and also a member of the Scindia royal family of Gwalior), Dushyant Singh is a BJP MP from Jhalawar-Baran constituency in the state. He acquired a management degree from IHTTI School of Management, Neuchatel, Switzerland.

VARUN GANDHI

BORN: 13 March 1980

Varun Gandhi is grandson of the ex-Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. His father died in a plane crash when he was three months old. His grandmother was assassinated when Varun was four-years-old. Indira Gandhi is said to have been very fond of Varun and was greatly distressed when his mother left the household. He attended Rishi Valley School and completed his A levels from the British School, New Delhi, where he was elected secretary of the student council. According to a press statement released by Sumantra Bose, Professor of International and Comparative Politics at London School of Economics, Varun completed his BSc in Economics from LSE via the University of London External System in the year 2002. He also completed his MSc in public policy from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 2004 also through correspondence. These claims were ratified by him through one of his recorded letters.

Varun is married to Inca Yamini Roy, daughter of late diplomat Sunil Roy Chowdhury and film enthusiast Dr Aruna Vasudev. The wedding took place on 6 March 2011 in a Hindu religious affair at the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt in Varanasi. 

MILIND DEORA

BORN: 4 Dec 1976

Congress MP from Mumbai South, Milind Deora was born in Mumbai to veteran politician Murli Deora. He is one of the youngest members of the current Lok Sabha. An alumnus of Boston University, he founded SPARSH, a social initiative aiming to educate students in computer and IT proficiency. Milind Deora was inducted in the Union Government of India as the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in 2011. On 9 November 2008, Deora married Pooja Shetty in Mumbai. She heads the film production company called 'Walk Water Media' and is the daughter of film producer Manmohan Shetty.

RAHUL GANDHI

BORN:  19 June 1970

Rahul Gandhi often advertised as the future prime minister of the country, Rahul Gandhi comes from India's most powerful family: the Nehru-Gandhi family. Three members of his family have occupied the post of the Prime Minister of India. His educational credentials have been questioned by Dr Subramanian Swamy, a noted politician and president of the Janata Party. As per the information available in public domain, he studied at St. Stephen's College in Delhi for a year and then later moved to Harvard University in the US. But in 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi former Prime Minister of India was assassinated by the LTTE during an election rally, he shifted to Rollins College, University of Florida due to security concerns and completed his B.A. in 1994

He is presently quite active in the state of Uttar Pradesh where he is trying hard to revive his party Congress image.

PRIYA DUTT 

BORN: 28 August 1966

44-year-old Priya Dutt is the daughter of actor-politician Sunil Dutt and actress-politician Nargis Dutt. She is the sister of actor Sanjay Dutt. She is currently representing Mumbai North Central constituency for the Indian National Congress. After graduating in sociology from Sophia College, Mumbai University, Dutt worked in television and video. Later, she studied at The Center for the Media Arts in New York. She is actively involved in many charities and campaigns for many social causes including breast cancer awareness.