Indian Youth at the Crossroads

Every third person in urban India is a youth. In less than a decade from now, India, with a median age of 29 years, will be the youngest nation in the world. In an economy that is not growing as it ought, inequitable distribution of income and resources and a society stressed by forces of a new wave of modernization and divisive forces youth are often the worst sufferers. Livelihood opportunities shrink, skill upgradation does not take place and an entire generation misses out the vital experience of early employment. India’s demographic transformation is creating an opportunity for the demographic burden of the past to be converted to a dividend for the future. For this to happen the country needs to adopt a three-pronged policy that will address the issues of employment, livelihoods and the skill status of youth.