‘Valueable’ contribution required from the youth to shape the future of the country Introduction: The destiny of a nation is vested with the youngsters. These are the people if guided correctly; they can modify the course of the world. They have the might of extensive thinking, hard struggle, innovation and advancement.
The youth are ready to adapt changes because they are young they are in search of truth, they are open to different ideas contrary to the people who are mature and old. These youths are the pioneers of socio-cultural, political and economic reform. They are the crucial segments of our nation’s development.Today the current population of India stands at 1.
2 billion of which around 600 million people are younger than 25, and nearly 70 percent is under 40. At a time when much of the developed world and China have aging populations, an unprecedented demographic condition in the history of modern India, and in absolute numbers it is unprecedented anywhere in the world. According to a recent IMF report India’s demographic dividend alone could contribute two percentage points to its annual G. D. P.
growth for the next two decades, if the country adopts the right policies.A 2010 Goldman Sachs paper projected that India’s industry would need to create nearly 40 million jobs by the end of this decade to absorb this huge increase in the labor force. The demographic dividend of India will witness a surge in the labor force with the right age structure, higher productivity due to urbanization, a low ratio of dependent people and an increased number of women joining the work force. The paper further states that aided by the demographic dividend, India could clock economic growth of 7 to 9 percent until 2030, possibly wiping out absolute poverty as we know it today, though the poverty line would then be eadjusted. In yet another study it was indicated that India will have 12 percent of the world’s college graduates by 2020, more than the United States, and second only to China, which will have a staggering 29 percent share.
These graduates, their innovations and their patents will be the main drivers of the knowledge economy. In the wake of the rising new revolution in cities today, social media saw creating a new phenomenon the rise of the virtually connected Indian youth which is likely to redraw the terms of engagement between the state and its urban population.Young people are at the forefront of the technology revolution, which is the driving force behind the global emergence and evolution of the information- and knowledge-based society. According to a report by SemioCast, a Paris-based research firm, said that India had around 18 million Twitter accounts, placing it sixth among the biggest Twitter nations. While internet penetration in India is just 11% three times lower than the global average around 137 million users make the country third biggest in terms of web-connected citizens. Most of these users are urban and young.
A Comscore report says 75% of web users here are under-35. A Pew Research study this December established that nearly 45% of Indian web users, most of them from urban areas, connect on social media to discuss politics. The numbers are backed by GlobalWebIndex, which noted in a September report that India is the third most socially active country with around 78 points. The past decade has seen a growing acceptance of the importance of youth participation in decision-making, and successful efforts to engage young people in the political process have led to improved policy formulation, adoption, implementation and evaluation.
Participation strengthens young people's commitment to and understanding of the concepts of human rights and democracy. The traditional view that “youth are the future” fails to take into account that young people are very active contributors to their societies today. While involving young people in the decisions that affect society is beneficial from both a policymaking and a youth development perspective, it is not always effectively practised.There are a multiple reports that suggest - India’s youthful population can be viewed as a double-edged sword – capable of bringing great benefit to the country in the decades ahead, but with extensive demands that, under current economic conditions, the country looks unable to fulfill.
Projections like this are dependent on several internal conditions – in India’s case, that means changing its archaic land and labor laws, creating better trade opportunities and making huge investments in education and skills training. The state of the global economy will be a key external variable.
