Scindia was here to address a rally organised by Congress candidate Raosaheb Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil, contesting from Amravati for October 13 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

"Today, our country needs a true social worker and not a politician. True social workers are those who obey the orders of the party," he said, adding that Raosaheb was indeed one.

Scindia, an MP from Guna, also appealed to join Congress ideology for the development of the country. "I am starting my election campaign in Maharashtra from the constituency of Raosaheb Shekhawat, who was closely associated with my father, late Madhavrao Scindia," he said.

Source: DNA Country needs true social workers than politicians: Scindia

The world missed the significance of our baby steps in democratizing the Congress's youth organizations. Everyone wrongly assumed young Indians were allergic to politics and change. But they are eager to be active agents of change.

The election results are scant evidence of the chord Rahul has struck with youth with his attempts to throw open political parties to the next generation. In the last few months, we held elections for our youth organizations in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The result was the new vigour seen in GenNext during the Lok Sabha elections -- they took up campaigning in big numbers and turned out in hordes to vote. They seem to have backed Congress with great enthusiasm.<center>
LONG-TERM VISION: (from left to right) Vijay Inder Singla, Sandeep Dikshit, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia </center>

It is the young who can -- and will -- change the country and the way it is run. The basic problem arises from the simplistic assumption that the young are averse to "dirty politics". The urban middle class may be cynical about politics but in the rural heartland there are 5.5 lakh panchayats and several lakh young men and women serving as panchs, sarpanchs and as members of zilla parishads. According to a rough estimate, 70% of these elected representatives are no older than 35.

Surely that is evidence enough to show that the young are interested in entering the system to change their village communities? If the urban young are apathetic about politics it is largely because of the system's penchant for political institutions, the closed-door functioning of political outfits and the special status given to politicians. These are all negatives factors and breed revulsion among ordinary people.

The philosophy and purpose of Rahul Gandhi's internal democratization of the NSUI and Youth Congress was opening them up to the common people. This has created a feeling within the new generation that there is a clean way of getting into politics and moving into leadership positions. At the moment, many young politicians belong to political families and the positions they get are passed down as legacies. There's nothing wrong with that but there should be equal opportunity for others too if they want it.

It is not a small change. It would open up politics to all, making it possible for ordinary people to compete with the privileged few. Some may try to discourage the change, but it will happen. Ours is a longterm vision but the results of this election are encouraging, particularly because we saw huge youth participation in our campaign and the voting
process.

I went to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to contest the election. I was a first-timer in the big, challenging world of electoral politics. But the experience was phenomenal. Throughout the campaign, I would get scraps on my Orkut profile and phone calls from boys and girls who would introduce themselves as first-time voters who had cast their ballot in my favour. It was a very satisfying experience -- the flight of hope among those who possibly would not have taken to it with such gusto had they not seen change coming into the closed, 60-year-old world of politics.

Through Congress's philosophy of equality, India's young will change the way politics is perceived in this country. Politics and elections are seen as an ideological challenge, but young people see it as a management challenge. As the young enter politics, real issues will come to centrestage and the possibility of their own being able to participate in the process would cement their faith in the philosophy of equality, opportunity and change.

It will be a boon for society as it will undercut the school of political thought that promotes divisiveness. As we gain acceptability, there will be copycats. That would be good because they will be following our path.

But this may be hard for those whose politics is based on parochialism. Divisive politics marginalizes the youth it seeks to exclude. Youth participation in such parties will decline. Simply put, divisive ideology is antithetical to greater youth participation.

Six incumbent Ministers of State were dropped to make way for the newcomers. Others who were sworn in at a special function by President Pratibha Patil this evening included three Congress MPs, V. Narayanasamy, Rameshwar Oraon and Santosh Bagrodia and RJD MP Raghunath Jha. Except for Gill who was given independent charge, the others were inducted as Ministers of State.

Portfolios

Ministers of State

• M. S. Gill -- Youth Affairs & Sports (Independent Charge)

• V. Narayanasamy -- Parliamentary Affairs, Planning

• Santosh Bagrodia -- Coal

• Raghunath Jha -- Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

• Rameshwar Oraon -- Tribal Affairs

• Jyotiraditya Scindia -- Communications and Information Technology

• Jitin Prasada -- Steel

• Jairam amesh (Minister of State Commerce) gets additional charge of power ministry.

• Kanti Singh shifted to tourism and cultural ministry

• Vayalar Ravi (Overseas Indian Affairs Minister) given additional charge of parliamentary affairs.

• Shakeel Ahmed (Minister of State) shifted to home ministry.

* B. K. Handique (Minister of State) gets additional charge of mines, divested of parliamentary affairs.

Jyotiraditya Scindia A brief Profile ....

He has had to wait a long while in the wings but the wait has paid off for 37-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP from Guna. His name was doing rounds as a possible minister ever since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government took office in May 2004.

Many believe Scindia, scion of the former royal family of Gwalior, was born to rule. He did his schooling from the prestigious Doon School - like former Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and many of his cabinet colleagues - completed his graduation from Harvard University and then earned an MBA from Stanford University.

After graduation, he interned with the UN economic development cell and later worked as an investment banker with global financial services firms Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. He also set up his own investment firm in Mumbai called Scindia Investments Private Limited.

A crowned 'Maharaja' after his father Madhavrao Scindia, a charismatic leader and seasoned politician who died in a plane crash in September 2001, Jyotiraditya Scindia was first elected to the Lok Sabha from his father's constituency in February 2002.

Just like his father, being a politician has not been very easy for him because he had to fight political battles against his own family - his father's sisters and his cousins are in the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Articulate and a good orator both in English and Hindi, Scindia is often seen fiddling with his latest model mobile phone in the Lok Sabha. He is, however, an active participant in debates. A regular in the house, Scindia takes an avid interest in discussions and his favourite issues are diverse - from economy to foreign policy and environment.

Though a regular in Page 3 parties, Scindia is equally passionate about endangered tigers and global warming just as he feels strongly about the lack of educational facilities for the poor in rural India.

Scindia, who loves sports, is a sharp shooter and interestingly enough has done a course in car racing from the US. He is married to Priyadarshini Raje Gaekwad of the erstwhile royal family of Vadodara and the couple has a 12-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter.

Jyotiraditya's Lok Sabha homepage maintained by NIC.

Interested in knowing Jyotiraditya's activities in the Lok Sabha. You can see the NIC maintained Lok Sabha homepage for Mr. Scindia which lists his participation in Debates (Proceedings), Special Mentions, Questions raised, Sup.Questions, Government Bills, and Committee Memberships.

This comes after the party had said after its recent central committee meeting that some of the policy positions of the government were "dictated by erroneous outlook that unjustifiable concessions must be given to foreign capital at the expense of domestic industry and the public sector to attract more FDI".

Admitting that there were differences, especially with regard to FDI, between the Left and the other partners in the government coalition, he said his party was not opposed to FDI provided it increased productive capacity, brought better technology and generated more employment.