Politics as a career option

I know. The title itself raises some questions. Politics is not a career. It's a service. Right? How many of us think so? Let's be practical, It is a career and it is may be one of the highest paying line of work in India. If that is true then why such a huge amount of teenagers are studying to be engineers and doctors when the jobs they are going to get into won't even have a fraction of the pay scale that politics will give them? Not only money but the powers and perks a politician has are more than corporate giant.

A politician is not only the one you vote for. If we count the number the employees currently employed in Indian politics, it may come into the top 3 employers in India. There are many levels of politicians, starting right from our neighborhood, going up to the big chair in New Delhi. As the level increases, the pay scale increases. It works similar to any corporate firm. Managers can easily relate to politicians. May be that's why I am writing this blog. 

There are two career paths in politics. First, join a certain party of your choice at very early age. Work hard, manage to fight elections, win them and become a politicians. Second, skip the first step, instead, become insanely rich or famous and then get into a party, stand in the elections, win them. The entry level for first kind is quite lower than the that in the second. The second one generally becomes a state or union minister. But the pay and perks have no bounds in either of the case.

The question remains, Why not politics as a career option? Because, it's not a job. It's a responsibility. Because, every time you do something people have their eyes on you. Criticism is a huge part of politics. A politician is judged by the people, media, party workers and a lot of other people. Being a politician is very stressful. But, worth the hard work, as it pays 10 times or more, in some cases. So, why there is no line outside a party office like there is a line for railway recruitment or police recruitment? There are better chances that a teenager will become a successful politicians than he becoming a IAS or IPS. All it needs is enrolling into politics. Still the percentage of youth getting in to politics is significantly lower and it applies to me too. I did my engineering and now I am doing MBA. If I would have joined politics, I would have worked more for the society than any engineer or manager. 

Where is the problem then? Why are not we getting into politics? Because we think it's dirty. We think it's cheap and it is not for educated people like us. Well, we are not completely wrong. But which profession is not like this. Every line if work has some dirt in it. Yesterday, a friend of mine looked at a poster of a politician and said "look, they all look like thugs with those beards, a heavy gold chain, big red tika on the forehead". I thought,'yes, why is not there a decent pic of a decent guy up there'. Because, decent guys like us are too busy running our own lives to run the country. 

Politics is something that shapes the fortune of a country more than the number engineers and doctors it produces. Thus, it is very necessary for the youth of the country to look at politics as a career option. Actually, they should change it's name. 'Politics' is not used in a good sense these days. May be we could call them 'Social Managers' or something like that instead of politicians. If the number of intellectuals that contribute in politics increases then there won't be any other direction than progress for the country. As been said in a marathi movie, our country will be ideal when our health minister will be a doctor, our sports minister, a sportsperson and our Prime minister, a MBA. Ok, the last one was not there. I added it. But it fits. Our current PM is great manager and if you believe in the media, he is also doing great.

People say join the army or become a IAS/IPS or a social worker, if you want to serve the country. I say,"Become a politician".