172. Understanding a Generation

Vivaan Marwaha talks about his learning in the process of writing his book, What Millennials Want, in a conversation with writer, poet and executive director of India Foundation for the Arts, Arundhati Ghosh. India is one of the youngest countries in the world and the generation of millennials make up for over 400 million people. This is the largest generation of people in the world. That means that the choices and trajectory of this generation have pivotal consequences on local, regional, and global politics and economics. So the important question is: What do Indian millennials want? What are their economic aspirations and their social views? Most importantly, what makes them tick? In What Millennials Want, Vivan Marwaha documents the aspirations and anxieties of these young people scattered across more than 30,000 kilometers in 13 Indian states. Combining an expansive dataset along with personal anecdotes, he narrates an intimate biography of India's millennials, investigating their attitudes towards sex, marriage, employment, religion, and politics. This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the live event that took place in late October 2021 in the BIC premises.