In fact, it used to be 21 in India until a constitutional amendment in 1989 lowered it to 18. Raising the age is also a proposal being made by Vivek Ramaswamy in the US. The problem with allowing teens to vote is that they are too immature to appreciate issues like fiscal discipline , national security, geopolitics, illegal migration and privatisation. They don’t work and have no sense of responsibility. They can be too easily swayed by statements by celebs and influencers.
We should keep it just as it is. So long as there's a sizable eighteen years old who can vote responsibly, they should be allowed. Same thing with the rest of those who are now eligible.
Too easily swayed by statements? Bhai those over 50 are now swayed by scammers to rob them of their life savings and you think they are prudent enough to decide fiscal policy of the nation? I propose a ban on everyone above 40 from voting.
There is no perfect age tbh. The next thing would be to strip voting rights off illiterate people cuz they don't understand the larger issues and are too easily swayed by false promises. The present situation is not perfect but changing the minimum age won't make things better.
How.are you a lawyer? It is common sense to anyone but you I guess that this is the stupidest idea. Firstly, it is wildly undemocratic. The poor get poorer( as the poor and uneducated almost completely overlap) as their votes have 0 value so no government has any incentive to uplift them. Widespread poverty, starvation and famine. Secondly, pretty much all government funding for education will STOP. Government will have 0 incentive to educate more people as they might just go and vote for another party. To maintain the status quo that got them elected, government will ensure minumum people get education. A lovely return to fuedal europe, dumbass
Only those who have completed military service (even a short stint 2-5 years) should be able to vote as only they have proved they can put the welfare of the whole before themselves.
If the concern of OP is that Gen Z teens are too woke, let’s remember that the vast majority of voters are above 21. Also, the same woke teens of today will become the RW boomer uncles of tomorrow, once they join the corporate world and become taxpayers.
Voting age should be raised to 21. Let that boiling teen blood settle a little.
Then Nation wide IQ tests should be conducted and its results should be taken in account before issuing Voter IDs. Only people above 100IQ should be allowed to vote
Voting rights are not based on knowledge or maturity levels, they are to ensure representation. Our founding fathers were wise enough to grant every adult voting rights irrespective of their group identities. Once you start curtailing voting rights on the basis of a 'certain group' not being mature enough or responsible enough you open the floodgates for other group identities to be excluded in the future based on the same principle. This is especially worrisome in a country where people are hounded with caste, religious, and gender discrimination. Although the whole argument may seem like a slippery slope but real life is not perfectly logical.
Also, Ramaswamy is a grifter hoping to get some office by wagging his tail before his white master, Trump. Ramaswamy (and Republicans') are extremely unpopular among younger women and minority groups, and the easiest way to counter it is to introduce a condition where the voices of such younger people don't matter. His sole objective is to curb such group identities.
Like many comments have pointed out, majority of Ramaswamy supporters and republicans who are above 21 or 25, in general do not care about these issues. In India too, just like the USA, people think that a certain leader is their messiah/vishnuavatar who is here to redeem them and thwart out the evil.
Fiscal discipline does not matter when you are the only superpower on the face of the Earth. USA is too big to fail. The world economy runs Plus the fiscal policy is not even that extreme.
Republicans' will effectively end USA's global hegemony. Russia and China are constantly pumping money into election interference just so Republicans' are elected. Republicans' and Ramaswamy's 'inward looking policies' will be perfect in light of Ukraine war and potential occupation of Taiwan. Trump and his handling of state secrets has already brought him under the radar.
Illegal immigration is not going to stop magically. People have always found ways to enter countries one way or the other. Plus a significant number of labour market participants are illegal immigrants.
Privatisation has only resulted in worsening of many essential industries and deteriorating quality of life for citizens. Privatised healthcare and insurance are prime examples. Also, privatisation and liberalisation are buzzwords thrown around by capitalists to play with your emotions. The moment big government steps down you get inferior products, higher prices, cut down forests, particulate air, poisonous groundwater, etc.
TLDR: Stop listening to men like Ramaswamy and Musk whose sole credibility is their vast fortune. They are only in it for the riches and power. They do not care about you. They are better off if you are worse off.
You will automatically see an improvement in the quality of politicians and the quality of governance. India will then truly become a developed country.
Modi does indeed have correspondence course degrees from DU (School of Open Learning) and I'll tell you who has no university degree though, yet has many crores worth in assets:
- Sonia Gandhi (highest qualification in affidavit given as Lennon Cook School, an English-language teaching centre in the UK)
- Abhishek Banerjee (highest qualification in affidavit given as undergrad course from IIPM, which has been derecognised by courts)
- Tejaswi Yadav (didn't complete school)
- Priyank Kharge (12th pass and certificate computer course, which is not the same as a university degree)
Uncle ji why stop at 21? Why not 30? Why not 40? Why not only single people? Why not only married people? Why not only married people with kids? Why not only people with grandkids? What is the rationale behind 21? It's arbitrary.
Uncle ji everyone pays tax. In the current GST regime wheat, rice, sugar and dairy are taxed. Finding someone who does not consume all these four products is next to impossible.Uncle ji are all universities made equal? Why not just the INIs? Why not just JNU, the best ranked Uni in India?
Uncle ji, your whole idea of India being a developed country does not envision holistic and inclusive development. You only want better services for yourself while leeching off the guards, and maids, and factory workers, and sabziwallas.
Also, just a crazy scenario... you know.... totally not what happened in France and USA... so suppose we introduce these atrociously backward thinking stoneage oogabooga voting 'reforms' that you are proposing, in the same manner as you would, to exclude certain groups. Corporations and Income tax payers (https://theprint.in/economy/more-indians-filing-tax-returns-but-only-1-2-of-population-actually-pays-income-tax-shows-govt-data/1686818/) get all the representation. Well you have in effect created a somewhat modern feudalism. The representatives have no incentive to work towards the betterment of ones they do not represent. More than 95% percent population who also make bulk of the agricultural and industrial and in general blue collar workers are left without any representation or any policies of betterment or any access to a social ladder. What do you think is gonna happen? Be a little imaginative.
Every Uncle at the chai ki tapri thinks he can solve our nation's problems. Stop consuming what the capitalist masters want you to consume. 'Afeem' phhookna band karo. Look at how much of the budget is being allocated to education, health, public transport. 3rd largest economy, great, shabash, but also do not forget a population comparable to 3x of USA being dependent free food grains just to survive.
TLDR: Stop drinking elitist koolaid. It ain't that deep.
Vivek ramaswamy want to raise the bar because most of the young voters are democrats and 3rd party voters.
By your logic, nobody above the age of 60 should be allowed to vote, they are one of the most decepteble population and they contribute to the rise in misinformation
If 18 year old can go to war they can surely be allowed to vote.
All this sounds good, but its stupidity is clear on close examination.
-stolen from Starship Troopers
Take him as a joke only.
Maza aata hai dekhkar
Then Nation wide IQ tests should be conducted and its results should be taken in account before issuing Voter IDs. Only people above 100IQ should be allowed to vote
Also, Ramaswamy is a grifter hoping to get some office by wagging his tail before his white master, Trump. Ramaswamy (and Republicans') are extremely unpopular among younger women and minority groups, and the easiest way to counter it is to introduce a condition where the voices of such younger people don't matter. His sole objective is to curb such group identities.
Like many comments have pointed out, majority of Ramaswamy supporters and republicans who are above 21 or 25, in general do not care about these issues. In India too, just like the USA, people think that a certain leader is their messiah/vishnuavatar who is here to redeem them and thwart out the evil.
Fiscal discipline does not matter when you are the only superpower on the face of the Earth. USA is too big to fail. The world economy runs Plus the fiscal policy is not even that extreme.
Republicans' will effectively end USA's global hegemony. Russia and China are constantly pumping money into election interference just so Republicans' are elected. Republicans' and Ramaswamy's 'inward looking policies' will be perfect in light of Ukraine war and potential occupation of Taiwan. Trump and his handling of state secrets has already brought him under the radar.
Illegal immigration is not going to stop magically. People have always found ways to enter countries one way or the other. Plus a significant number of labour market participants are illegal immigrants.
Privatisation has only resulted in worsening of many essential industries and deteriorating quality of life for citizens. Privatised healthcare and insurance are prime examples. Also, privatisation and liberalisation are buzzwords thrown around by capitalists to play with your emotions. The moment big government steps down you get inferior products, higher prices, cut down forests, particulate air, poisonous groundwater, etc.
TLDR: Stop listening to men like Ramaswamy and Musk whose sole credibility is their vast fortune. They are only in it for the riches and power. They do not care about you. They are better off if you are worse off.
Restrict voting to taxpayers.
Restrict voting to university degree holders.
You will automatically see an improvement in the quality of politicians and the quality of governance. India will then truly become a developed country.
- Sonia Gandhi (highest qualification in affidavit given as Lennon Cook School, an English-language teaching centre in the UK)
- Abhishek Banerjee (highest qualification in affidavit given as undergrad course from IIPM, which has been derecognised by courts)
- Tejaswi Yadav (didn't complete school)
- Priyank Kharge (12th pass and certificate computer course, which is not the same as a university degree)
Uncle ji everyone pays tax. In the current GST regime wheat, rice, sugar and dairy are taxed. Finding someone who does not consume all these four products is next to impossible.Uncle ji are all universities made equal? Why not just the INIs? Why not just JNU, the best ranked Uni in India?
Uncle ji, your whole idea of India being a developed country does not envision holistic and inclusive development. You only want better services for yourself while leeching off the guards, and maids, and factory workers, and sabziwallas.
Also, just a crazy scenario... you know.... totally not what happened in France and USA... so suppose we introduce these atrociously backward thinking stoneage oogabooga voting 'reforms' that you are proposing, in the same manner as you would, to exclude certain groups. Corporations and Income tax payers (https://theprint.in/economy/more-indians-filing-tax-returns-but-only-1-2-of-population-actually-pays-income-tax-shows-govt-data/1686818/) get all the representation. Well you have in effect created a somewhat modern feudalism. The representatives have no incentive to work towards the betterment of ones they do not represent. More than 95% percent population who also make bulk of the agricultural and industrial and in general blue collar workers are left without any representation or any policies of betterment or any access to a social ladder. What do you think is gonna happen? Be a little imaginative.
Every Uncle at the chai ki tapri thinks he can solve our nation's problems. Stop consuming what the capitalist masters want you to consume. 'Afeem' phhookna band karo. Look at how much of the budget is being allocated to education, health, public transport. 3rd largest economy, great, shabash, but also do not forget a population comparable to 3x of USA being dependent free food grains just to survive.
TLDR: Stop drinking elitist koolaid. It ain't that deep.
By your logic, nobody above the age of 60 should be allowed to vote, they are one of the most decepteble population and they contribute to the rise in misinformation
If 18 year old can go to war they can surely be allowed to vote.