Times View: Treat young adults with respect

The three titans of techdom, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, founded Apple, Microsoft and Facebook when they were 20-to-21 years old. Isaac Newton had formulated early versions of the laws of motion by the time he was 23. The annals of history are replete with instances of scientists, artists, poets, politicians, warriors and sportsmen who have made a dramatic and lasting impact on the world while in their early 20s. In our more mundane, everyday lives, we can vote and drive at 18, and marry at 18 or 21. And yet, in Maharashtra, the government says you can’t drink till you are 25.

The Times of India does not support the cause of drinking — and has been at the forefront of the campaign against drinking-and-driving. But to say that people are “not mature” till they are 25 is ridiculous. Any law that’s built around this notion is plain stupid, and must go. Off the record, government officials say, “Oh, but we never enforce it.” If it isn’t enforced, then why this farce? By keeping it on the statute books, all it does is lead to harassment and corruption — a few days ago, we wrote about how a young, law-abiding gentleman was at a Mumbai restaurant with his family when a policeman walked in, dragged him away, and put him in overnight lock-up.

This isn’t a debate about liberal vs conservative, nor about moral vs immoral. This is about treating young adults with the respect they deserve. The government must do the right thing and reduce the threshold to 18. If parents feel that’s too low, let them talk to their children. It’s better than letting bribe-seeking policemen harass them.