50 per cent of all Indians are under the age of 25. That's 500 million youngsters raring to take India to the top of the world. Young Indians have achieved professional and personal excellence on a level unseen before and it's only the beginning.

So what drives Indian youth today?

1. Television

There was a time when, if you wanted a television set, you had to wait for years. In 1962, there were 41 TV sets in the country. By the early 1980s, all you could see on the small screen were Doordarshan's Ramayana and Mahabharata. That changed in the mid- and late-1980s when more people began owning TV sets. And by 1991, when the markets opened up and foreign broadcasters came rushing in, more than 70 million homes had TV sets with more than a hundred channels.

Indians now had real-time access to what was happening around the world. As a result, aspirations grew, and since then, the golden generation of Indian youth has not looked back.

2. Telephone

There is an addition to the modern Indian youngster's list of priorities: Food, clothing, shelter and the mobile phone.

When the mobile phone first became available about 10 years ago, it not only gave us the ability to communicate with friends and family on the go, but it also changed our social behavior. It created individual entities among the youth. Mobile ringtones define who we are and phone models are an indicator of our economic status.

As India's growth rate touches further heights, the phrase 'upwardly mobile' has been given a whole new meaning.

3. Technology

Whenever we speak of the successful Indian youth, the first thought that comes to mind is 1991. Because PV Narsimha Rao opened up the markets, Indians were exposed to the latest technology. A country that had just one car model all these years suddenly found itself spoilt for choice. And as the youngsters grew increasingly accustomed to newer technologies, they only increased their own values. Slowly, India Inc. began taking shape.

4. Internet

Indian youngsters today demand fast service, dislike waiting in line and want information of all kinds at their fingertips. Enter the internet. Ever since the late 1990s, when the web became an active part of our lives, youngsters have changed the very way they lived. No more going to the music store to buy music, they just downloaded songs. No more waiting for the daily news bulletin, the news was just a click away.

And as the years went on, more and more services offered online options. Today, youngsters use the web to book movie tickets, look for jobs, make bank transactions, and download recipes, place orders for clothes, books, perfume. Of course, writing letters has long become a memory thanks to e-mail.

5. Social Networking

Even as the power of the internet was being tapped into, along came a phenomenon that shattered all notions, right or wrong, about the web. Social networking was the big bubble as far as India was concerned. Millions hooked on to it and suddenly, the world became one big meeting place.

Social networking sites offered a kind of exclusivity that youngsters found difficult to attain in real life. They became more assured and confident. And this confidence from the online world rubbed off on their real lives too. They knew that they could achieve the same things as their 'friends' from across the planet. It was only a matter of time.

6. History

We've talked enough about how technology and liberalisation has changed the very way Indian youth look at life. What we haven't talked about is how our past shaped us.

Indians have always raised their children to be obedient, respectful and socialist. India has seen its share of tragedy since independence: wars, famine, disease; and it is this past that defines who we are intrinsically. Today's youth may want to adopt western ideologies or may want to "grow rich", but it is their upbringing as tolerant people that makes them humble, grounded individuals with a passion to succeed.