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India's Demographic Dividend

The winter chill has begun to set in Delhi, early morning mist wraps us all in its cold. Feels great to wake up and have steaming hot coffee before the rush to work that paves the way for a very hectic, exhausting day.

In the last three weeks, I've met over a hundred people, top brass entrepreneurs, students, educators, academicians and so on. What strikes me about these people, irrespective of age, is their energy to make things happen and their passionate belief that India is on the cusp of a golden, super power era. 

Today's young teenagers and youths that we see around us are the nation's treasures. I'm not kidding. By 2050, no other country in the world will have such a young, vibrant and talented pool of youngsters. Most developing countries in the world are facing the problem of low youth population and increasing number of aged population for whom their governments have to provide social security and many other benefits. These governments are worried sick about how they would grapple with the youth crunch by 2050 while in India, this demographic dividend is what will enable us to become a super power. If only we, as a society, can encourage them to be what they want to be, help them dream big and reach for the sky, and teach them less and support them more, what a fine thing that would be. 


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