Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
Page 
1
of  
10
 
PRESS RELEASE
 
Thursday, March 29, 2012Mr.
Neeraj Sumeet Shekhar
a student of GITAM School of International Business, Visakhapatnam, has been awarded the First Prize in The 55
th
All
 –
India Essay Competitionfor College Students conducted by the Forum of Free Enterprise, during 2011-12.The Second Prize has been awarded to Ms. Vishakha M. Vartak of BrihanMaharashtra College of Commerce, Pune; the Third to Ms. Shilpa Sarvani Ravi of GITAMSchool of International Business, Visakhapatnam; and the Fourth to Ms. Tanvi Lehru of Thakur College of Science & Commerce, Mumbai.
 
Consolation Prizes have been awarded to Ms. Nanda Chaudhari of St. Mira’s College
for Girls, Pune; Ms. Mitali P. Naik of D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai; Mr.Sangati Prudvi Rajareddy of GITAM School of International Business, Visakhapatnam; Mr. P.Sakthi Arunkumar of 
 Virudhunagar Hindu Nadars’ Senthikumara Nadar College,
 Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu; and Ms. Aditi Singh of Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi.
The subject for the Competition was “Capitalizing India’s Demographic Advantage”.
 This Competition is being sponsored by Jyoti Limited, Vadodara, since 1957, with a view toencouraging college students to think and write on topical economic subjects. (The essayfollows in next page)Entries had been received from colleges and management students around thecountry and were judged by a panel comprising: Mr. Raghavendra G. Katoti, SeniorEconomist, Tata Services Ltd; Mr. Raghav Narsalay, India Lead, Accenture Institute for HighPerformance; and Ms. Sampada S. Palkar, Human Resources Professional.Swati Kapadia
 
 
Page 
2
of  
10
 
ESSAY: CAPITALIZING INDIA’S DEMOGRAPHIC ADVANTAGE
 
By:
 
Sumeet Shekhar Neeraj ♣ 
neeraj.sumeet@gmail.com  
♣
+91 78428 88751
♣
Visakhapatnam
 
GITAM School of International Business (Formerly GIFT)Accredited by 
NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
(2011)
Demographics are destiny of a nation and the globe at large. In 2020, theaverage age in India will be 29 years, i.e. a whopping 70 % of Indians will be of working age in 2025, up from 61 % now & the share of people older than 65will remain around just 5 %. On the other darker side of the coin we find Mr.Kapil Sibal (Minister of HRD) sharing some dire statistics
, “
in India today, 220million children go to school, yet only 12% of them make it to college(compared to 63% in the US)
”
. Similarly, out of the roughly 509 millionworkers currently employed in India, only 12% are skilled. The so-calledexisting "skilled workers" lack the soft skills like communication skills thatwould make them more useful to employers. For instance, NASSCOM recentlyreported that a whopping 75% of the fresh engineering graduates hired bydomestic IT providers are unemployable.Much has been written and talked about the subject globally & for quite a whilethese numbers have been fascinating a sundry of writers, speakers andeconomists. Questions namely: In what ways shall these developments impactto a huge economy such as India? What makes them so fascinated and talk about these numbers? Today we are chiefly concerned on capitalizing theupcoming dividend for India.
 
Page 
3
of  
10
 
While there is a sizeable literature on India‟s demographic trends and their 
economic ramifications, the econometric evidence for the growth impact of theworking age ratio is more limited.
Mr. Nandan Nilekani writes, “Dividend is not
a pure equation or an unalloyed promise of growth. The real gains of apopulation boom depend on policies that allow the young to attain high levels of education, find jobs, and contribute to the economy. Even in developedeconomies that have deployed talent effectively in the past, bad policy can turn
a talent advantage sour.”I ponder, „can growth sans development exist‟? Unless industry and government
collaborate to build policies that make effective use of a
country‟s young
workers, a demographic advantage can prove ineffective, and evencounterproductive. Economist Mr. Malthus who had argued that vast increasesin population would result in catastrophic conditions challenging the veryexistence of civil soci
ety again raises a concern about modalities of India‟sstance. On the other hand Mr. Bloom‟s „Positive way‟
(mentioned above) wasvindicated clearly in his research reports on various retrospective cases. Young,unencumbered workers are expected to spur entrepreneurship and innovation,enabling significant gains in productivity, savings, and capital inflows. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) too estimates that the demographic dividendcan upsurge
a country‟s GDP growth by as much as a third. The demograph
icdividend shall have a significant impact
on a country‟s capacity for 
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more