India is NOT a Young Nation

With 75% of the population under the age of 35 anyone would say India is a 'young' nation. 35% of the population was under the age of 15 (according to a 2004 book, Twenty-first Century India: Population, Economy, Human Development, and the Environment by Tim Dyson), think about it yourself.
I am not the first person who is saying that most of the politicians, leaders, icons India has cannot be called young. So how are we a 'young' nation? Well obviously because the statistics show that. I don't agree.
The Indian Express newspaper published its list of 100 most powerful Indians on 22nd February, and by God was is such a sorry list for me. The youngest in the list was Mahendra Singh Dhoni (aged 27, ranked 23), the captain of India's Cricket Team. The Average Age came to 58.88. Some more facts from the list:
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only one under the age of 30.
2. Between 30 and 40 there are only 6 people out of 104 in all. Read the names, Rahul Gandhi(aged 38, ranked 1) Priyanka Gandhi(aged 37, ranked 30) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq(aged 36, ranked 41) Omar Abdullah(aged 38, ranked 37) Sachin Tendulkar(aged35, ranked 47) and Aditya Chopra(aged 37, ranked 87)
3. Between 40 and 50 there are 13 people. Sharhrukh Khan(aged43, ranked 22) A.R.Rahman(aged 43, ranked 27) Vineet Jain(aged 42, ranked 50) Ramdev Baba(aged44, ranked 67) Aamir Khan(aged 43, ranked 72) Ronnie Screwvala(aged46, ranked 75) Sanjay Gupta(aged 46, ranked 76) Zakir Naik(aged 43, ranked 82) Arundhati Roy(aged 47, ranked 90) Kumar Manglam Birla(aged 41, ranked 92) Lalit Modi(aged45, ranked 95) Akshay Kumar(aged41, ranked 97) and Vandana Luthra(aged 49, ranked 100)
It takes time for a person to achieve power, I know, but what worries me here is that in today's India I don't see the scenario changing for at least another 10 to 15 years. The 'system' has grown into such a complex web that it is impossible for young, or middle-aged people to reach the power corridoors.
The policies of the Governments have been 'old' in their nature, have had very little to offer the young generation with. Take for example the Cyber Laws in India. With the world looking upto us when it comes to matters of Information Technology, and almost all the work being done over the Internet, it is a shame that the Indian Cyber Laws stand nowhere as compared to the other developed or developing countries.
The youth does not identify with the so-called young achievers in politics and businesses as most of them are successors to their parents' achievements. While this is a good sign, there are other dangerous trends that the youth follows, of course being oblivious to them.
Its worrying to notice that despite being so different from the older generations, the youth has allowed one significant vice to creep in, that being of 'all talk and no action.'
Talk to any parent today and ask them about the one thing that makes today's kids different from what they themselves were, let's say 35-40 years back. The answer most of them would give is that today's kids r smarter, not just smarter, they r smarter beyond belief. But has anything of real significance actually taken place? I would be accused of being a pessimist to say 'no.' The youth can march for anti-reservation, and take water cannons shots on their chests, all in good spirit, but they have to make a mockery of Indian Democracy by not voting, and, interestingly, being proud of it.
Some students from the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) formed a political party and saw decent coverage from the print media, that was around two years back. Six months later there were reports that the party split into two factions based on caste issues. After that there has been no news about it whatsoever. You make a Rang De Basanti and it goes off to be a superhit on box-office, but a Yuva fails miserably, why? Because the former talks about 'having a good time' and killing a corrupt politician, and the other talks about working one's ass off and cleaning the system by being a part of it. Choose one for yourself for some 'weekend action' in the multiplexes.
If the armed forces is any sign of how strong and young a nation actually is, the Indian Army itself is short of around 13,000 officers, leave the lower ranks aside. And that too despite regularly advertising all around.
Political knowledge is lacking among the youth, i don't want to sound repetitive, but it is shocking really. I could go on and on, but as a saying in hindi goes, "samajhdaar ko ishara kaafi," meaning: to the wise a mere hint is enough.
Growing young can't be taken as an excuse for not growing mature.