Three out of four Indian kids think green

Despite the popularity of the idiot box—with 98% of those surveyed watching TV every day—newspaper readership among Indian kids is double their counterparts in Australia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan, reports Ritika Chopra.

It may pleasantly surprise parents worried about brats brought up on a daily diet of violent cartoons. Not only are the majority of children in urban India politically correct, they are also extremely environmentally sensitive.

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The 2008 results of New Generations — Cartoon Network’s kid’s lifestyle research — say that every second Indian child is concerned with global warming. Three out of four children are pre-disposed to buying environment-friendly products and that given the power to change the world, one of three kids would want to stop violence. Twenty five per cent want to save endangered species and help reduce environmental problems.

Conducted across 14 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Lucknow and Nasik, the study quizzed 3,020 children aged 7 to 14 and an equal number of parents to arrive at the results.

Despite the popularity of the idiot box—with 98 per cent of those surveyed watching TV every day—newspaper readership among Indian kids is double their counterparts in Australia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. One out of four said that they read a newspaper on a daily basis.

And in case you had doubts over where their loyalties rested, rest assured: 74 per cent of Indian children chose their country as the favourite, followed by the United States, which 9 per cent favoured.