Kerala assembly elections: Gen Z voters seek jobs, skills, real change

Kavya M scrolls through reels on Instagram as she digs into a plate of chicken biryani at a popular night-time street-side eatery in Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram. Her feeds are filled with snippets of election campaigns, candidates’ promises and the back-and-forth tussle for seats.But she’s barely watching – skimming. As an arts student, Kavya is politically aware, yet she can’t shake the feeling she’s missing something. The electioneering around her feels distant, tough to relate to. That’s the sentiment shared by many of the youngsters who belong to Gen Z, a group who have grown up in far better circumstances than their parents in the state. Their interests -high-paying jobs, skill development, good future prospects and conservation of the environment are not being met at the pace at which they want them to be addressed.“I think parties should bring in more educated persons, including youngsters, into electoral politics. Informed views and opinions are often missing in governance. There should be tangible progress and development like good roads, scientific waste disposal, reduced crime rates, a sense of security at night, more employment opportunities in the form of regular recruitment through PSC, opening up of new private sector companies, etc.,” said Kavya.Gen Z also feels that the parties should take their issues more seriously.Karthik Hari, a final-year engineering student, said, “In govt and private engineering colleges, the focus is to complete the semester and not to ensure that the students learn. There are not enough industries for internships. Skill training is needed. A lot of people go out for education and work. This needs to be stopped,” Hari said.Abhishek B R, a PG literature student, said that all parties should have a mutual understanding about the need to implement schemes that benefit youth. “Now, the parties prioritise their ideology or propaganda. The Centre-state tug of war has impacted many schemes,” Abhishek said.The state govt should do more to plug the gap between completion of education and landing jobs, he said. “There should be campuses of foreign universities, post-college skill development, startups, reduction of interest rates for education loans because it may take time for a student to land a job,” he added.He said electoral reforms are the need of the hour. “There should be a right-to-recall option. The candidates should have proper educational qualification, and there should be a cap on the maximum age to contest in elections,” Abhishek said.Skandan S, a first-year BSc geology student, said, “Political parties should be more trustworthy by making things happen instead of giving fake promises. The youth are seldom consulted on governance. When was the last time the govt conducted a survey to understand the youth’s perspective on a policy matter? Youth should be given more space in decision-making and governance. This can be done by giving seats to younger candidates, and also by recruiting more youth in the staff of ministers and MLAs.”It seems that the state has a lower percentage of Gen Zs, born between 1997 and 2012, compared to other states. There are approximately 4 lakh first-time voters out of the 2.69cr voters. Nevertheless, people like Kavya “hope to see more educated, young, proactive politicians instead of people in their 70s, 80s, still clinging on to power even though they need support even to walk.”