The 15th Lok Sabha of India, 2009 is encouraging. After years, the Lok Sabha comprises of experienced and a group of young ministers. This inclusion of youth in the Indian Parliament shows the far sightedness of the UPA. The Gandhi’s have stayed out of the Cabinet as before with the intention of well-being of the citizens. This is a credible effort which should never be forgotten. Even when Rahul Gandhi was insisted upon joining the Cabinet, he refused.
With 79 MPs under 40 years of age and 36 members who are at least 70 years old, the 15th Lok Sabha is a fine blend of youth and experience. Although the new Lok Sabha has a higher number of under-40 members compared with the last, the average age of the House is higher — at 53.03 years, this is the third oldest House so far. Ram Sundar Das (88), the giant-killing JD(U) MP from Hajipur who defeated Ram Vilas Paswan, is the oldest member of the House while 26-year-old Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed, the Congress MP from Lakshadweep, is the youngest.
Although the women's reservation Bill proposing 33% reservation for women in Parliament was not passed despite repeated attempts to table it, the new Lok Sabha has the highest number of women MPs ever elected in to the Lok Sabha. At 58, the 15th Lok Sabha has 13 more women MPs than the last House and nine more than the previous best of 49 in the 13 Lok Sabha. The representation of women members has crossed the 10% mark for the first time in Indian history.
Meira Kumar, daughter of late former Deputy Prime Minister and veteran Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram is now ready to become the first woman Lok Sabha Speaker with the support of Congress.
India is now heading towards the notion of becoming a ‘Developed Economy’. With UPA coming to power for the 2nd time and Mr. Manmohan Singh being the Prime Minister, the Indians can definitely hope for some more projects like the US-India Nuke Deal and waiver of farmers loans.