01/05/09

Demographic Dividend and India

Demographic Dividend is the new term founded to show the population rise in a positive light. IT entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani’s book ‘Imagining India’ celebrates our population growth. The youth of India is an attractive investment in the future, he reasons. He says India’s population contributes to global economy as workers and consumers. But I fail to understand how an uneducated and unskilled youth can be an investment of future India. Our literacy rate is around 65% and population increases mostly among BIMARU(Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh) states which are most backward in India.

I feel the corporate czars are kind of arm- chair writers as they don’t see the real India. India’s growing population can be a worrying factor in the future. During my travels I have befriended poor workers from many parts of India. Many confessed to me about the humiliation they have to face. I have seen in Goa, how young boys working at restaurants are treated as lesser humans. But they don’t have any option as they are trapped in poverty. Nobody treats them as human beings, let alone with respect. Whether this youth, having no self- respect or education will fit in the demographic dividend?

Foreigners often get shocked seeing women work on construction sites and on roads. Many ask me ‘How can they do that kind of work?’
But this is a common sight in India, of which nobody bothers about. Often this women seem to work with little kids their beside. They are under paid and not even aware of their rights. This is an irony in a country where women goddess are worshipped and motherhood is celebrated. How those hapless women can be considered an asset in the Demographic Dividend?
Corporate houses, elite class, politicians and Bollywud industry, probably benefit from the population explosion. Many big Corporate houses employ boys on contract basis for a monthly wage as less as Rs-2000/- they can be out of job any time. Rich often find this uneducated poor as walking machines.

Ignorance is the main cause of population explosion. I often wonder why the authorities turn a blind eye towards it when I see many kids begging on street. As poor have more children, its impossible to control population without female education. The case of Kerala is a good example in this regard where family planning is implemented successfully. Because there every woman is educated.

Education and awareness is important any country to progress. Growing population in India will contribute more violence, unemployment, environmental disaster, if not controlled. And if not invested heavily on educating the poor, our population will be a real problem in the future. Family planning and education must be our top priority.
Demographic Dividend is a new term founded to put the population rise on

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