Democracy’s children

A Hindustan Times-Gfk Mode survey, conducted across 12 cities and among people between 16-25 years, establishes that today’s youth is patriotic, responsible and willing to balance personal freedom with the wishes of family and society in general. Abhijit Patnaik reports. Take the survey | Full Coverage| Independence Day, in rewind: Pics| Towards Freedom: Pics | A day in the life of India: Pics

Sixty-four years is a long time in a nation’s history. But not long enough to make the youth take the hard-earned freedom for granted.

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A Hindustan Times-Gfk Mode survey, conducted across 12 cities and among people between 16-25 years, establishes that today’s youth is patriotic, responsible and willing to balance personal freedom with the wishes of family and society in general.

While the majority of respondents, 89.5%, consider August 15, 1947, to be the most important day in India’s history, almost 58.6% admit they haven’t flown a kite in the last five years. But that doesn’t mean that this generation is blasé about freedom.

Seventy-seven per cent of the respondents said that they value freedom over any materialistic possession.

Interestingly, though they attach a lot of importance to personal freedom, for example, the right to choose one’s life partner or career, a majority of youngsters don’t favour going against the law or the wishes of their families.

Almost 42% don’t mind Facebook and YouTube being banned at workplace or schools and about 50% approve of their parents checking their text messages.