India's middle class comes of
political age By Kunal Kumar
Kundu
NEW DELHI - Indian society is
undergoing a fundamental change, the effect of
which seems to have caught politicians unaware. A
rising number of young people, combined with
increasing literacy levels, rapid urbanization and
the Internet revolution, has changed the lives and
aspirations of all the people - but especially the
middle class.
Long considered politically
insignificant, India's middle class is now out on
the streets, protesting against issues that affect
them. Call it the Rang De Basanti-effect. A
hitherto voiceless middle class, led by the
educated youth, suddenly seemed to have found its
voice and is relishing the discomfiture of an
establishment that, thus far, has been too used to
muzzling voices of reason.
Rang De
Basanti, a film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra, focused on social change and was released
in India on Republic
Day - January 26 - 2006. It
was a critical and commercial success and won
numerous awards. The film dealt with corruption in
the defense establishment. It portrays a tale
where the innocent lives (of Indian Air Force
pilots) are lost because of the devious ways of
corrupt ministers and politicians, and then shows
public anger forcing the judiciary to act.
The Jessica Lall murder case also
attributed to the public activism inspired by this
movie. On April 29, 1999, model Jessica Lall was
fatally shot inside a New Delhi restaurant, which
was packed with about 300 of the city's
glitterati. The killer was Manu Sharma, son of an
influential politician. The case dragged on for
seven years during which many witnesses were
influenced through money and power.
On
February 21, 2006, (nearly a month after the
release of Rang De Basanti), the Delhi High
Court acquitted Manu Sharma and his friends due to
"lack of evidence". This led to massive public
protests (similar to those depicted in the film)
and, following a reopening of the case, Sharma was
finally convicted.
The urban middle class
(led by young people) was out on the streets in
full force last year when self-styled Gandhian
activist Anna Hazare launched his agitation
against corruption. Although the government
managed to wriggle out of the situation, the clear
discomfort etched on the faces of the powers that
be made one thing very clear - the middle class
could no longer be ignored. This has been
reinforced by the impact of the protests and
candle light vigils in protest following a brutal
gang rape last December in New Delhi.
A
crucial factor that has helped the amorphous
middle-class evolve into a force with a united
voice is the rapid spread of social media. The
rise and rise of social media could have as much
impact on worldly ways as the invention of the
wheel. So politicians can ignore it only at their
peril.
According to the Internet And
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of
Internet users in India as of June 2012 was 137
million, which translates into a penetration level
of 11.4%, up from a level of less than 1% a decade
back. By December 2012, the number of users is
expected to have shot up to 150 million, a large
segment of which use the Internet for social
networking.
Of 34 million Internet users
in urban India surveyed recently by IAMAI, 87% use
the Internet for email, while 67% of users access
it for social networking. According to Internet
World Stats, India has 62.7 million Facebook
subscribers as of December 2012, which translates
into a penetration level of 5.2% of the
population. In "Arab Spring" countries like
Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, protests and action
plans were organized through social media such as
Facebook and Twitter, while YouTube was used
extensively to let the world know of the protests
and their intensity.
Not that the Anna
Hazare movement or the massive protest against the
Delhi rape suggest an "Indian Spring".
The
Arab Spring was a manifestation of pent-up anger
against dictatorial political systems, while India
is a vibrant democracy, however deeply entrenched
fault lines of corruption are in public life, and
however lackadaisical and corrupt law enforcement
agencies and the judiciary are.
A bigger
question is - how has a politically insignificant
segment of the population suddenly transformed
itself into a potent force of change? For
starters, there's strength in numbers.
According to a report by National Council
for Applied Economic Research's Centre for Macro
Consumer Research, India will be a country of 53.3
million middle-class households by 2015-16, which
implies that approximately 267 million people will
fall into this category.
By 2025-26, the
number of middle-class households in India is
likely to more than double to 113.8 million, or
547 million individuals. In terms of percentage,
the Indian middle class constitutes about 15% of
the population today, up from 5.7% in 2001-02, and
by 2025-26, they will account for 37.2% of the
population.
What helps is that the country
is young and will continue to remain so for some
time to come. As per the 2011 census, more than
50% of India's population is below the age of 25
and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is
expected that, in 2020, the average age of an
Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China
and the US, 45 for Western Europe and 48 for
Japan.
The coming of age (in terms of
political consciousness) of India's middle class
could be a game changer. While India's poor
continue to be voiceless and exploited, the rich
and the powerful use politics to their advantage.
It is India's middle class that is the custodian
of India's conscience.
While India's
middle class has so far been selective in their
protests, the issues that lead them take up the
cudgel show their clear preference for increasing
accountability from politicians, bureaucrats and
keepers of law.
When economists talk about
a desperate need to usher in second-generation
reforms in India, they imply the need to move out
of the quagmire created by rampant corruption and
lawlessness - issues the middle class is now
forcefully voicing their concern about.
This awakening could just be the beginning
of a process that ensures India - the nation and
the economy - breaks out of its shackles with all
citizens granted the right to lead a life of
respect and dignity.
Kunal Kumar
Kundu a New Delhi-based economist.
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