Maverick Story's - 6 days ago

Celebrating Youth & Democracy: National Voters’ Day 2025 Marks Electoral Milestones.

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Youth – the transition from childhood to maturity has been the demonstrative disambiguation when it refers to the adolescence psychology of a naïve. The five distinctive characteristics of adolescence in psychology are: rapid growth both physically and mentally, sexual attraction, cognitive development, interests in new hobbies and self-discovery, and importance of acceptance by peer groups.

Youth identities are conceived as projects, emergent features of ongoing social interaction, set within a set of institutional relations, formed out of the discursive reper- toires youth use to make sense of, interpret and narrate their worlds. Former US President Mr. Robert Kennedy had quoted:

“This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease”.

Government of India during the period 2005 – 2010 had delved into the reasons for the reluctance of the new eligible’ s getting enrolled in the electoral franchise. To consolidate the mission of getting the electoral process much vibrant, the government under the leadership of the most learned Dr. Manmohan Singh began exploring the Youth psychology – a dynamic and crucial field of study that explores the psychological development, behaviours, and challenges experienced by individuals during their formative years. The psychological study reiterated the belief that young people possess the ability to create meaningful changes in the society, and the said decision pertaining to young people remains unprecedented without cohort inclusiveness.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a Law Ministry proposal to this effect, thus marking the beginning by which the Election Commission’s decision to take up a vigorous exercise in identifying all eligible voters attaining the age of 18 years as of January 1 every year in each of the polling stations across the country.

It was unanimously decided that on 25^th. January the “National Voters’ Day” is to be celebrated annually in India to mark the foundation day of Election Commission of India, with a mission to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process. The first National Voter’s Day was celebrated on 25^th. January, 2011. A slogan ‘No Voter to be left behind’ has been coined to further emphasis the focus on inclusiveness.

National Awards are being conferred for excellence, proficiency and innovation in election processes and procedures. These awards recognize contribution by election machinery, government department / agency / PSU, CSO and media fraternity.

This year on 25th January 2025, the 15^th National Voters’ Day, which would commemorate the 75^th. year of the Election Commission of India (ECI), is themed as: “Nothing Like Voting, I Vote for Sure” to emphasise the importance of voting and pride in electoral participation.

Electorate Milestone: India’s voter base approaches the 100-crore mark, with 99.01 crore registered voters, including 21.07 crore young electors (18-29 age group), and an improved Electoral Gender Ratio (from 948 in 2024 to 954 in 2025).

This year in 2025, Indian Railways will be honoured with the Best Electoral Practices Award, 2024 – 2025 by the Election Commission of India during the National Voters’ Day celebrations on 25^th. January. This recognition highlights Indian Railways’ crucial role in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, where it significantly contributed to voter awareness and logistical support. To promote voter awareness and encourage citizen participation in elections, the Indian Railways, in collaboration with the Election Commission of India, had operated a special train, the SVEEP Express, in the Kashmir Valley in coordination with local authorities to engage and inspire youth to actively participate in the electoral process.