How India can leverage its biggest strength

India’s biggest strength is its manpower.
To reap the demographic dividend, we need to improve our labour force participation by improving the employability of our labour force through large-scale skilling.
At the same time, we need to create employment opportunities for the youth who enter the job market every year.

India’s average age is 29 years, whereas the average age in US, China, France, Germany and Japan is 38, 38, 42, 45 and 48 years, respectively.
India, with its huge population, is now in a phase in which its working-age population is rising and the old-age dependency ratio is coming down.
India is the youngest among the most populous countries in the world.
The world, in contrast, is ageing with an increase in the population of the aged and a drastic reduction in fertility rates.

Most developed countries today have been able to make use of their phase of favourable demographics for higher growth and standard of living.
In Asia, China has already set an example of being a superpower by harnessing its demographic dividend from the early eighties till 2008-2009.
- China’s early focus on labour-intensive manufacturing and subsequent structural transformation resulted in an almost 10% annual average growth rate over four decades.
Similarly, major Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore have shown consistent growth by engineering structural transformations to utilise their demographic dividend in the recent decade

Need to create opportunities for the existing labour force and the new entrants into the labour market by improving their productivity.
Seed to shift a major chunk of the 45.5 percent of the labour force engaged in agriculture (low and negligible labour productivity).
Most of the labour force has limited education and skill sets, they can only be used in labour-intensive manufacturing such as textiles.

Need accelerated focus on infrastructure development to reduce trade and transaction costs, trade facilitation measures, better IPR ecosystem, ease of doing business on the ground, and further rationalisation of labour laws and the taxation system.
MSMEs need support in improving competitiveness, achieving scale, digital infrastructure, technology up-grade and branding to be part of a larger supply chain and the global value chains.

India can only reap the demographic dividend if we make our labour force more productive and efficient through skilling, reskilling and up-skilling.
Skill development programmes such as the Jan Shikshan Sansthan, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme are welcome steps.
The skill development programmes have succeeded in many parts and have increased human resources supply in various sectors during 2017-22.
However, 93 per cent of the employment in India is absorbed by the unorganised sector
We need to upscale and improve their skills.
The MSDE Vision 2025 is set to improve linkages between education and skill, catalyse demand for formal skills and create a high-skilled ecosystem.

With reforms like Ayushman Bharat and Swachh Bharat Mission, the Centre has ensured health equity to a great extent.
The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana that makes drug prices affordable and accessible is a welcome step.
Though India is a pharmaceutical giant and a global leader in vaccines, it needs to scale up access and quality health services for the majority of the population.
We still have a long way to go to ensure financial medical protection in terms of universal insurance and adequate medical infrastructure.

The National Education Policy 2020 gives importance to updating knowledge.
It aims at ensuring productive employment opportunities and decent/dignified work as listed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
Government;s Samagra Shiksha programme provides inclusive, equitable and quality education at all levels of school education.
However, there are several instances of schools being non-functional, authorities being reluctant to drive change and students suffering.

The next decades belong to India provided we accelerate our reforms and achieve the desired results of flagship programmes of Skill India, Make in India, Start-up India, and others.
It’s time to focus on labour-intensive manufacturing and human capital.
India can be the source of the labour force for the rest of the world.