Former chief of army staff General (retd) V K Singh on Thursday advocated that a retirement age be fixed for politicians as it is in the case of other fields related to governance. He said that the older people can play the role of guides,but should give up active politics so that youngsters can enter the political system. Singh,who at the time of his own retirement as the army chief was entangled in a controversy over his age,said,Theres a fixed retirement age for every other profession. An anganwadi teacher has to call it quits at the age of 55. A judge has to retire at the age of 65. But there is no such limit for a politician. Theres need to fix a retirement age for politicians as well. Post retirement they can still play a role of Bhishma Pitamah,that of a guide,but should exit the active politics, said Singh. He was delivering a lecture on State of the nation and national security in Pune as part of his three-lecture tour that started with Goa,followed by Belgaum,and culminated here. Singh reasoned that as India was a young country with 70 per cent of its population below the age of 40,it made sense if this is reflected in the political leadership of the country as well. As many as 84 crore Indians are youngsters. We know that only after a tree loses its older leaves in fall,it bears new buds,leaves and fruits. This needs to happen to our country as well. Youngster needs to replace the older lot, said Singh. Singh said there were many lacunae in the way democracy was being implemented in the country.
