By M H Ahssan
In August 2007, the Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss had brought in All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the PostGraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill 2007 restricting the tenure of the AIIMS Director P Venugopal, to five years or attainment of 65 of age, whichever is completed first. Introducing the bill in the Lok Sabha, Dr Ramadoss had stated it would help the premier health institute improve its efficiency. Albeit the bill was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2008, it gave birth to the debate on age factor that applies to the professionals in every job: Should the political leaders, like other professionals – either in public or private sector – be retired at a certain age? Should there be a legislation of age bar for politicians in India? Does age help improve efficiency? Should some sort of retirement criteria be introduced in Indian politics as well? Does vibrant India need equally young and vibrant leaders, not old, aging and ‘not-so-fit’ leaders?
When we think of young, vibrant India, like our democracy, we think of young, energetic and able leaders in the ministries – both at the centre as well as the states. More important is the fact that unlike in other fields of professional activities there is a lack of younger leaders in the political arena, and barring a few Gandhis, Pilots and Dutts, a fairly large number of politicians are well over 60 of and have no plans to retire in near future since no legal framework exists that could compel them to retire at a certain age. For example, the average age of the Cabinet Ministers in Dr Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet is 66.90 years. Out of the 32 ministers (Shiv Raj Patil resigned after Mumabi terro attacks), 12 are 70 year or more, while 7 ministers are 65 or more, which is what the retirement age that Dr Ramadoss wanted to prescribe for AIIMS Director. Only three ministers are in their late 50s. Except Dr Ramdoss, who, at the age of 40, is the youngest Cabinet Minister followed by A Raja who is 41, no other minister is below 50 in a total of 32 ministers, including the Prime Minister. If the President of India is 74, the Vice-President, M Hamid Ansari is 74. If M Karunanidhi is 84 and roaring, V.S Achuthanandan is 85 and ruling.
Average Age of Dr. Manmohan Singh Cabinet
1. Dr. Manmohan Singh (1932) 76
2. Pranab Mukherjee (1935) 73
3. Arjun Singh (1930) 78
4. A.K. Antony (1940) 68
5. Sharad Pawar (1940) 68
6. Lalu Prasad Yadav (1947) 61
7. Shivraj V. Patil (1935)* 73
8. Ram Vilas Paswan (1946) 62
9. S. Jaipal Reddy (1942) 66
10. Sish Ram Ola (1927) 81
11. P. Chidambaram (1945) 62
12. Mahavir Prasad (1939) 69
13. P.R. Kyndiah (1928) 80
14. T.R. Baalu (1941) 67
15. Shankarsinh Vaghela (1940) 68
16. Kamal Nath (1946) 62
17. H.R. Bhardwaj (1937) 71
18. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (1946) 62
19. Priyaranjan Dasmunsi (1945) 63
20. Mani Shankar Aiyar (1941) 67
21. Meira Kumar (1945) 63
22. A Raja (1963) 45
23. Dr. Anbumani Ramdoss (1968) 40
24. Sushil Kumar Shinde (1941) 67
25. A.R.Antulay (1929) 79
26. Vayalar Ravi (1937) 71
27. Murli Deora (1937) 71
28. Ambika Soni (1943) 65
29. Prof. Saif-u-Din Soz (1937) 71
30. Sontosh Mohan Dev (1934) 74
31. Prem Chand Gupta (1950) 58
32. Kapil Sibal (1948) 60
Average Age 66.90
In Indian democracy, old, aged and infirm leaders are in plenty, and in every party. L K Advani is 81 and officially declared the would-be PM candidate of the BJP in the coming elections. Arjun Singh at 78, with physical infirmity so excruciating, is given a very important portfolio. Sharad Pawar is 68 and seems as if he has just started his career. Somnath Chatterjee is turning 79 coming July and still shouts in the Parliament to control his unruly colleagues, yet failed to put them in order. Lalu is 60 and kicking as if he will not stop before grabbing the PM’s office sometimes in 2014. The 64-year-old Buddhadeb Bhattacharya will surely follow his predecessor, 94-year-old Jyoti Basu, who retired at the age of 86. Not a single moment, all these old leaders have realised that out of the four time periods, they are in Vanprastha Ashram (last stage) as per the Hindu philosophy, yet they have no plan to retire. How can people expect exclusive social service from a 70-plus year-old man?
The photograph of 52-year-old Micheline Calmy-Rey (born July 8, 1945), the visiting Swiss President standing in between 75 year old Dr Manmohan Singh (born September 1932 and 73-year-old Pratibha Patil (born December 19, 1934) on the front pages of national dailies on 7 November 2007 shows the palpable difference of age: the Swiss President appeared as an energetic young daughter like figure of two of her older Indian counterparts. In comparison to our older politicians, British PM Tony Blair was just 43 when he assumed the office of Prime Minister in 1997 and Bill Clinton was just 46 when he was elected President of the US in 1992, while Barack Obama is just 47.
But can we expect Indian electorates, like those in the US, to prefer younger leaders like Obama to 72-year-old John McCain? While younger leaders are becoming general norms in the western countries, India has no such thinking.
Old age politicians are not new in this country: traditionally, politicians have been perceived to be men of advanced age, like the patriarchs (grand fathers) of individual families, who would oversee the household governance and who are respected due to their age and experience. Indian democracy provides a stark contrast between the average age profile of the politicians and that of the people: India has 80 per cent its politicians well over 70, while 70 per cent of the country’s population is below 40 years of age. Senior politicians in different parties have acquired larger-than-life images, simply because of their length of stay and not for any sacrifices made by them.
At 40, Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister followed by his mother Indira Gandhi, who assumed office in 1966 when she was 49. The oldest politician to become PM was Morarji Desai, who was 81 when assumed office followed by I K Gujaral and Chaudhary Charan Singh at 78 and 77 respectively. Even A B Vajpayee turned 72 when first time he was sworn in as India’s 10th PM in 1996. The average age of Indian Prime Ministers since 1947 is 65.2 years (see Table 2), which is more than the prescribed retirement age of professionals in institutions and departments.
Indian Prime Minister since 1947
J L Nehru (1947-1964) 58
Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964-1966) 60
Indira Gandhi (1966-1977) & (1980-1984) 49 & 63*
Morarji Desai (1977-1979) 81
Chaudhary Charan Singh (1979-1980) 77
Rajiv Gandhi (1984-1989) 40
V P Singh (1989-1990) 58
Chandra Shekhar (1990-1991) 63
P V Narsimha Rao (1991-1996) 70
A B Vajpayee (1996-1996) & (1998-2004) 72 & 74*
H D Deva Gowda (1996-1997) 63
I K Gujaral (1997-1998) 78
Dr Manmohan Singh (2004 till date) 72
Average 65.2
In comparison, the average age of US Presidents since 1945 is 57.27 (see Table 3), while that of UK Prime Minister 58.18 (see Table 4) since 1951 and French Presidents 59.16 (see Table 5) since 1958. Only German Chancellors having has more average age, i.e. 68.85 (see Table 6) since 1949 though within the last 38 years (from 1969 onwards), it has produced four head of states having less than 60 years of age. While in other countries the downward trend in age among the political head of states is ultimate norm, Indian does not seem to bring in young politicians. Winston Churchill and James Callaghan were the only two British Prime Ministers, who crossed 70 years of age and were still in office in comparison to their seven Indian counterparts, and no British PM crossed 80 while in office.
List of US Presidents since 1945
Harry S Truman (1945-1953) 61
Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-1961) 63
John F Kennedy (1961-1963) 44
Lyndon B Johnson (1963-1969) 55
Richard Nixon (1969-1974) 56
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) 61
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) 53
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) 70
George H W Bush (1989-1993) 65
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 47
George W Bush (2001-till date) 55
PM of UK since 1951
Winston Churchill (1951-1955) 77
Sir Anthony Eden (1955-1957) 58
Harold Macmillan (1957-1963) 63
Alec Douglas Home (1963-1964) 60
Harold Wilson (1964-1970) & )1974-1976) 48 & 58
Edward Heath )1970-1974) 54
James Callaghan (1976-1979) 74
Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) 54
John Major (1990-1997) 47
Tony Blair (1997-2007) 44
Gordon Brown (2007 till date) 56
French Presidents since 1959
Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969) 69
Georges Pompidou (1969-1974) 58
Valery Giscard d’Estaing (1974-1981) 48
Francois Mitterrand (1981-1995) 65
Jacques Chirac (1995-2007) 63
Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-till date) 52
Table 6: German Chancellors since 1949
Chancellors Tenure Age when assumed the office
Dr Konrad Adenauer (1949-1963) 75
Dr Ludwig Erhard (1963-1966) 66
Dr Kurt George Kiesinger (1966-1969) 62
Willy Brandt (1969-1974) 56
Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982) 56
Dr Helmut Kohl (1992-1998) 62
Gerhard Schroder (1998-2005) 54
Dr. Angela Merkel (2005-till date) 51
The age trend is lower in the case of France and Germany (see Table 5 & 6), with no leader of 70 years of age or more except German Chancellors Dr Konrad Adenauer, who was the lone head of the state assuming office at the age of 75, but no German Chancellor exceeded 62 years of age in the last 35 years.
As the next Lok Sabha elections are due this year, a close look at the leaders of the BJP and other parties would give us the age trend. If NDA coalition wins, the BJP will take lead in the government formation. Like the Congress, BJP has equally older leaders at the helm of affairs (see Table 7). And L K Advani, if he wins, is going to compete Morarji Desai when assuming PMO, at an age when our grand fathers turn into what Shakespeare said: “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” Albeit Rajnath Singh (57), Sushma Swaraj (56) and Arun Jaitley (56) are younger lots, they will have to wait till their number in hierarchy comes, and by then, they will cross at least 70.
Because of rebellious voice from stalwarts like 85-year old Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the his chances of joining Union Cabinet in 2009 seems bleak, while 71-year-old Yashwant Sinha and 70-year-old Jaswant Singh would head foreign and finance respectively. And then there is a big name: Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, who is 74 and will replace four year older Arjun Singh in the Ministry of Human Resources Development, if BJP comes to power.
Individual Age of Current BJP Leaders
1. L K Advani (1927) 81
2. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (1934) 74
3. Venkaiah Naidu (1949) 59
4. BS Shekhawat (1923) 85
5. Rajnath Singh (1951) 57
6. Sushma Swaraj (1952) 56
7. Arun Jaitley (1952) 56
8. Yashwant Sinha (1937) 71
9. Jaswant Singh (1938) 70
10. Narendra Modi (1950) 58
Average Age 66.5
Out of the 10 leaders (see Table 8 ) who are in the mainstream politics, and whose average age is 69.3, only four are below 65, i.e. prescribed maximum retirement age. Two CMs — V S Achuthanandan and M Karunanidhi – are too old to be in any public service, while George Fernandez is 78 and ill; even healthier looking Mulayam Singh Yadav is 69. Only two leaders – Amar Singh and Mayawati – are young enough to carry out duties as public servants.
Individual Age of Some Other Indian Leaders
Somnath Chatterjee (1929) 77
M Karunanidhi (1924) 82
V S Achuthanandan (1923) 85
Mulayam Singh Yadav (1939) 69
Prakash Karat (1947) 61
H.D Deve Gowda (19330 75
Amar Singh (1956) 52
Mayawati (1956) 52
George Fernandez (1930) 78
Sonia Gandhi (1946) 62
Average Age 69.3
It looked nice to watch comparatively younger and energetic Barak Hussein Obama leading the US into a new era, India, in recent decades, has produced no younger leader of that stature, and those who joined as young leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Varun Gandhi, Milind Deora – all need to undergo the strict party ‘hierarchy ’ that either prevents them from being in the first row or are expelled like Uma Bharti when try to override. Among the new generation, although the 32-year-old Milind Deora, MP in the 14th Lok Sabah from the Mumbai South constituency, shows modern outlook, progressive thinking and educated mind, he will have to wait no less than two decades to reach the upper echelons.
There are whispers and voices making rounds in certain quarters over Sachin’s retirement though he is only 36 and performing excellently. Well, if cricket is not like politics where long innings can be played even in old age, then there must be some frontrunner politicians who must have accomplished achievement far greater than that of the master blaster. But we cannot offer a single such example from politician fraternity. While there is hardly any institution that has not undergone reformation in the last 60 years in order to enhance efficiency, age limit for Indian politicians has never come up for serious discussion. Given the age factor and related health issues, there is nothing wrong in what Dr Ramadoss tried to put in place the age limit for AIIMS Director, but he should take similar initiative for the political fraternity as well, so that we will have young, talented and energetic leaders. But will he come up with a similar bill that could restrict the age for politicians/ministers?
An initiative could be taken in this regard by filing a petition before the Supreme Court of India. In order to set the age limit for politicians, the apex court could go for interpretation of the relevant Constitutional provisions within the framework of equality before law guaranteed under Article 14. Besides, the Election Commission could also initiate reform measures whereby it might go for certain age restriction on leaders to fulfill the larger public demand to have younger leaders at the helm of affairs. Since all mature democracies, by convention, have assiduously promoted and preferring younger leaders in lieu of older ones, Indian democracy lags far behind. The short-sightedness lies with our Constitution makers, who were guided by the Westminster model that did not prescribe age limit for politicians. But the time has changed.
Note: all calculations are done between January 28-30, 2009
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