World Population Day, 11^th July

Stabilize population, skill youth, create enterprise ecosystem for prosperous India

- By Rahul Nandan

July 11 is World Population Day and India has just become the most populous nation, eclipsing China that has so far held the feat. The number of people in India, the world’s seventh largest country by area, is already zooming past 1.4 billion and one in every six people on the planet now lives here.

Now, this large number of ever-growing people is certainly a cause of worry as it puts tremendous pressure on our limited sources, often neutralizing many of our progress leaps. But a big question is can we capitalise on this population, which is largely young? India has the world’s largest number of youths aged below 35, a flourishing crowd of millennials and GenZ.

At this juncture where India’s population is projected to grow for the next decades, it is time a two-pronged strategy is seriously adopted to put the country on the path to prosperity. First, we now need to take concrete steps to stabilize the population by investing heavily on universal education and healthcare. The problem today is poverty and high fertility and that calls for focus on women’s reproductive rights, women empowerment, and universal education. The country must work for a robust healthcare system that promotes maternal and infant health and at the same time ensure an equitable society. The awareness and prevalence of male and female contraception also needs to go up considerably with effective state family planning initiatives.

Later marriages and parenthood are also important steps in this direction while encouraging more girls get primary and higher education, and enter workforce. Family friendly policies that promote gender equality in a way that couples are better informed about childbirth and the accompanying socio-economic responsibilities. So, that they can wisely decide how many children they want to have and when.

The other concern is how to turn around our weakness into strength. Along with thoughtful family planning measures, we must positively tap our large young population which is raring to go and give back to the nation. How to utilize this dynamic population as an asset rather a burden?

Considering that only 59.5% of young Indians are literate (National Sample Survey Office Report) with wide disparity in standards of education in rural and urban areas, India needs to substantially increase its budgetary allocation for education, both school and higher education, to ensure quality education is available at heavily subsidized costs and at no cost for those who cannot afford even that. This will create an inclusive education model that will create a youth force suitable for decent high paying jobs. Many youths today end up with small, low paying jobs.

Also, job oriented vocational training and skilling is extremely important so that the country has a huge pool of qualified workers. At the same time, youth must be encouraged with requisite support and risk cover to open their own business and enterprise rather than always looking for a job somewhere. This will gradually create an ecosystem that will have millions of young entrepreneurs employing many more millions of workforces, reducing the country’s high unemployment rate, enabling conditions for productive and sustainable employment.

India must also not forget its ever growing elderly population and take measures for its social and economic protection.

The government is working in this direction but must substantially push levels of its efforts and initiatives.

It is true that if India become prosperous, the world becomes prosperous. So, let us not wait anymore. Let us all join hands and ensure each of us contribute to nation building.

Keep reading,

Rahul Nandan & Seethalakshmi S,

Co-founders, Antardhwani