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 readjusted.
In yet another study it was indicated that India will have 12 percent of the world’s college graduates by 2020, more than the