India will miss the demographic dividend as China does if it does not educate its children and youth by investing in education, cutting down on military expenditure and making peace with China for the next decade, Uday Balakrishnan, visiting faculty, Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc, Bangalore, has said.
He said the country had miserably failed in retention up to standard XII and in inculcating quality education, vocational education and skills. As a result, youth from populous states continue to service metros and even small towns. Surprisingly, even some top schools could not provide quality education.
He was addressing a gathering after releasing the ‘Dialogue and Democracy- Reflections on Ideas, Issues and Policies’, the fourth in the series, marking the 22nd anniversary of the Centre for Policy Studies here on Monday.
Giving a glimpse of the magnitude and the failure of the system, Dr. Balakrishnan said the US with 5 % of the world's population had 15 million between standard IX and XII in schools whereas India with 17 % of the world's population had 22 million.
Former Union Energy Secretary E A S Sarma said the country was facing a crisis of democracy with its four pillars- dialogue, dissent, discussion and debate- on decline. Dr. Ambedkar in his speech at the time of presenting the draft Constitution expressed his apprehension over the dictatorship of a tyrannical majority, he said.
He praised the youthful energy of CPS president A. Prasanna Kumar in promoting dialogue and said thinking and learning would go hand in hand.
released the 127th issue of CPS bimonthly bulletin.
CPS president A. Prasanna Kumar recalled how the centre was earlier supported by Sankar Foundation and Gayatri Vidya Parishad and now functioning independently. Its aim was to bring people together to discuss issues, make demands and exercise intelligent choices. Its website was also launched recently.
It had so far conducted 225 meetings and former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, Soli Sorabjee, Khushwant Singh and a number of prominent personalities were among those who addressed it.
CPS secretary D.S. Varma, who welcomed, said Visakhapatnam Public Library Society had a close association with CPS in its eventful journey and one more floor of the library was under construction.
