By 2020 India will be the youngest country with a median age of 29 years, and this is the right time to groom and harness the demographic dividend, said Vasanthi Rajendran, from the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Tamil Nadu.
She was here to deliver the keynote address at the one-day seminar on ‘Youth in contemporary society: Aspirations and Challenges’, organised by the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive policy, Andhra University.
According to her about 65 % of the population in India is in the age group of 15 to 59 years, which is considered to be the working population and about 27.5% are in the age group of 15-29 years, who are considered to be youth, as per the UNDP norms. “About 20 % of the world’s working population is in India and that means a big thing for the country,” said Prof. Vasanthi.
Giving a comparative Youth Development Index (YDI) in the States in the country, she said, “according to a study Puducherry, Goa and Himachal Pradesh have the highest YDI and states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi are ahead of Andhra Pradesh.”
According to her, the YDI was categorised under three heads: very high, high and medium and AP finds a place in the medium category. Unemployment rate among youth is about 14 % and this can be reduced by empowering the youth, she said.
Earlier P.D. Satyapal, director of the centre, said about three decades ago youth were considered to be deviant or problem sector in society. But through empowerment things have changed over the years, the youth segment is considered to be the most dynamic segment.
Demographic dividend
“It is time that we identify their capabilities, nurture and groom them to gain maximum from the demographic dividend. But at the same time we should give them the required space including in politics,” he said.
Shinsho Furukawa, Shinsho Furukawa president, Japan-India Bodhi Society, in his address said Japan is facing a typical anxiety problem and a conflict of values between the older and the young generation.
Post World War II, a generation had built Japan from the ashes and they believed in certain values.
The present generation believes in ultra-American concepts.
“We are trying to inculcate the values through the school education,” he said.
AU Registrar V. Umamaheswara Rao and others spoke.
