India’s Population: Benefit or Burden

India’s official population count is around 1.2 billion and two thirds of that are below the age of 35.  India’s large population will provide enhanced market opportunities for companies and a large workforce that can utilized for development of the country.  This requires sustainable work opportunities to be created by the administration to employ a large population and income growth so that consumers can help support the local industry and build the economy. 

Let us take a look at some realities, which are not very encouraging.  Much of our younger population between the ages of 0-6 is in economically backward areas such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.  Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are home to factions that do not allow for good governance and reform.  Moreover, ultra-left naxalites run local administrations in several states that spread social unrest among poor sections of society.  Malnutrition and diseases run rampant in several slums around the country and the public health system and municipalities are ill-equipped to deal with the issue.  A large section of the population is unable to join the knowledge economy since India’s publicly funded schooling programme does not deliver quality education.  The school dropouts or uneducated then look to the manufacturing sector for skilled labour positions.  Corruption, poor infrastructure, and large transaction costs are hindering the growth of manufacturing opportunities and jobs in India.

It is essential that our lawmakers implement action plans that can generate work for a billion people in the years ahead.  India has a large unorganized sector (food kiosks, fruit sellers, flourishing local discount markets etc.), which can also aid in the growth of the economy.  To quote prominent civic activist Jayaprakash Narayan, “An unskilled, under-utilized, frustrated young population will derail economic growth, undermine harmony and breed violence”.  The best actions we can begin with to prevent this from happening would be to ensure minimal leakages of funds from government schemes and identification of an ideal job spread that would generate a reasonable distribution of wealth for a large Indian population in the future.