Is a generational sea change in India possible

Is a generational sea change in India possible?

This new poll from the Economist, and its accompany analysis, is fascinating. To the third question – do you think caste and religion should be a factor in politics? – was answered a resounding “no” by young mobile-phone owning Indians.

One possible fault of this poll and its analysis is the “Iran” problem: the Green Revolution was mostly fueled by Iranians with smart phones & social media access–but those people were mostly Westernized young people and represented a very small percentage of the population. The Revolution never “got into the countryside.” Likewise other polls in the United States that have in the past relied on polling mobile phones fell victim to the fact that only a certain strata of the population had cell phones.

However, this is less the case among young Indians. India has about 1.2 billion people and over 500 million wireless subscriptions (UK Telegraph). While mobile phones are getting widely distributed out in the population, there is a larger usage concentration among the young.

So, the Economist’s poll has a greater probability of being a reliable reflector of the aspirations and voting intentions of the young – who will be voting in the upcoming election for the first time.

Of greater interest to me is the question: what does this sea change in outlook mean for the church and for the interaction of the young with the church?