As for the younger generation having difficulties adjusting to senior politicians, I think we are quite lucky—young people have considerable opportunity in our Assembly. Out of about 50 MLAs, 10 are below the age of 40. In the Cabinet, five out of 12 ministers are below the age of 40. I am the youngest at 30. More than the mindset of the senior leaders, however, what we have to fight is the system that does not allow our thinking to come to the fore.

•Shekhar Gupta: The bureaucracy is more of a problem?

Conrad Sangma: The bureaucracy follows a system that has been there for 30 years. We need to instruct them to change the system. We are not ministers, we are CEOs in charge of each department and play the role of connecting with the grassroots and not just the top bureaucrat. These are the kinds of ideas the young ministers in our Government support.

Randeep Surjewala: I am 41 years old. I was an attorney at 20 and a half. I did my masters in Political Science after I became a legislator for the first time. I have practised law for 11 years. I have fought four Assembly elections so far, the first was a by-election in 1993 against Om Prakash Chautala. I lost that one but went on to win the next one against him and the three after that too. In 2000, I was made president of the Indian Youth Congress and served in that post for five years. I have been a minister now for just over three years.

... contd.