The Indian Youth.
As I go on writing this article, every other minute a child is dying
out of malnourishment. For every kid in the sprawling urban centres of India
who travel in Mercedes and have their lunch and dinner in multi-speciality
restaurants, there are countless children on the Indian streets who go to sleep
with an empty stomach. So, this is where we belong to, India with the largest
youth population in the entire world. When the whole world is making a huge hue
and cry about the sheer might of the Indian Youth and India on the run of
becoming a Super Power by 2020, many intellectuals are sceptical about the
same.
India has a very young population i.e. the majority of Indians tend to be young, and the average age is also less than that for the most other countries. According to some of the recent surveys, the share of the 15-40 age group is nearly more than 60%. The demographic dividend or ‘advantage’ to be derived from the age structure of the population is due to the fact that India is and will remain for some time, one of the youngest countries in the world. If recent reports are to be believed, by 2020, the average Indian will be only 29 years old, compared with an average age of 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe and 48 in Japan. This thereby implies a large and growing labour force, which can deliver unexpected benefits in terms of growth and prosperity.
But this potential can be converted into actual growth only if the rise in the working age group is accompanied by increasing levels of education and employment. But the condition of the Indian society with the social evils looming large on the horizon, is this possible? To dig a little deep into this issue, the concept of the declining sex ratio or the biasness towards the girl child in India is of special relevance.
Nationally the sex ratio still remains a mere 940 females for every 1000 males. The state-level child sex ratios offer even greater cause of worry. As many as six states and union territories have a child sex ratio of under 900 females per 1000 males and this particular trend is seen in some of the most prosperous states in India. Punjab is the worst affected state with an incredibly low sex ratio of 793, followed by Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The only curtain of praise could be raised for Sikkim with the highest sex ratio of about 986 females per 1000 males. Though several factors may be held responsible for the decline in the child sex ratio, some crucial include- Severe neglect of girl babies in infancy, leading to higher death rates; sex specific abortions that prevent girl babies from being born; and female infanticides . So when such cruel treatment to the sex that comprises half the population of human kind is given, the potential of the Indian Youth to rise above the horizon would only remain an illusion.
When we talk about the Indian youth to be an asset of our country, we tend to lift only the 20% of the elite class and forget about the rest of the 80% which comprises of the real population of the Indian Youth. In today’s era when we talk about Chetan Bhagat, MS Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi, Ranbir Kapoor to be the Youth Icons of India, we once again forget to show our solidarity towards those who are actually working for the upliftment of the Indian Youth and it’s high time that we should start appreciating their efforts.
