The modern Indian youth, especially in urban areas in India is credited with being a product of the knowledge age with information on every subject at their finger tips. They are aware, clever and focused. Most of all, they are liberated and sexually far more adventurous than previous generations.

Thus, all the more surprise that the 2006-07 survey, Youth in India: Situation and Needs, conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai and the Population Council, Delhi shows them up as callow and inexperienced in such matters. As far as Maharashtra is concerned, urban youngsters apparently have far less pre-marital sex than their rural counterparts. This throws up quite a few intriguing propositions and matches up with popular cliches. But could this be really true? In Mumbai, where young people live life on the fast track, where inhibitions and social and cultural norms are so often and easily challenged, this apparent chasteness seems a trifle forced. Ditto is the case with extra-marital affairs, where villages are shown to be the hotbeds of passion play. Relatively speaking, Mumbai comes across as a centre of virtues and morality where both the unmarried youth and married couples live squeaky clean lives.

The survey's numbers also show that the participation of women in cases of both premarital sex and extra-marital affairs in the rural and urban centres are significantly lower than men, which raises questions about how the men could find partners to pamper their indulgence. Are we to assume that the women have multiple partners? A conclusion that is difficult to escape is that youngsters, whether in urban or rural areas tend to be coy or embarrassed with their answer, which in itself shows a prevalent social attitude. There is also the observation about most young people still look for parental approval when it comes to marriage.

Significantly, though awareness about HIV is quite high among the youngsters, they hardly know anything about other diseases that can come with unprotected sex. It is testament to the fact that though the money and energy spent on the AIDS campaigns have yielded results, there is a lot to be done about the entire gamut of sexually transmitted diseases.

The survey also reveals the increasingly propensity for depression. The heartening bit is the authorities have woken up to the importance of treating mental-health related problems which often come from the mounting pressures of these times. Such surveys map the attitudes of the generation that is growing faster — in numerical and other ways — than all previous younger generations in modern India. They are the ones that will constitute and lead India in the future. Their welfare should be our concern now.