Unemployment

The demographic dividend that India enjoys today is incomparable. About 54% of our population is below the age of 25. The Union government’s policy documents and pronouncements from 2014-15 reveal that it is aware of the promise this holds for the country. The policy documents also tell us that the government is aware of the challenges the nation faces in harnessing this dividend. However, that awareness doesn’t seem to prevent the ruling party from pursuing a politics that can potentially obliterate this demographic dividend. This politics also runs counter to the government’s declared policy of bridging the skill gap. On the one hand, the government in its public documents, affidavits submitted to the Supreme Court and policy pronouncements says that India doesn’t need a policy to limit the family size. It told the apex court that it is against any coercive policy in this regard, because the country’s total fertility rate (TFR) is on the verge of “replacement rate” – below which the population begins to contract, and that can have very damaging consequences for a country.