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Indians know the value of money; Indian parents try to be friends to their children and marriage is a relationship of trust and sharing to Indians.

These were the key finding of CNN-IBN’s State of the Nation survey conducted by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in partnership with the DNA newspaper. In the fourth and concluding part of the series, the survey focused on the relationship between old and young Indians.

As many as 88 per cent older Indians feels the younger generation is more materialistic, says the survey. As many as 78 per cent older Indians feel that the young are self-centered, but 80 per cent of them also say that the young are smarter than them in worldly matters.

Has the relationship between the older generation and the young in India changed? Is India now youth obsessed? CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose asked to a rainbow panel of guests comprising of varied professions: Malishka, who hosts a show called Morning No. 1 on Red FM 93.5, advertising guru and filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar, actress Pooja Bedi, columnist and writer Jerry Pinto, Sathya Saran, editor of Me magazine, and Kamala Ganesh, who teaches sociology at Mumbai University.

“The young generation is a very loud generation; they want everything instantly—instant coffee, instant money, instant fame. As for being smart, they have access to lot more information. There are lot more TV channels than before, on politics, lifestyle, value systems, the East and West. I think the current generation has immensely benefited from this,” said Bedi.

The young are not to be damned, said Saran. “They have foreknowledge of things which we had to learn the hard way. Perhaps that gives them a know-it-all attitude,” she said.

There is so much happening in the world and there is so much it has to offer and it’s nothing wrong if the youth want it all. “It is not of a generation which went to work, returned home and considered that life. It is generation that wants more and needs more—there is nothing wrong in that,” she said.

“There is nothing wrong in wanting more. The question is what you want more of,” said Pinto. “There is much more information but little processing. There is much more knowledge but little wisdom. There is much more ambition but little conscience. But if there is problem with the youth blame the parents,” he said.