Boom And Gloom

[Windjammer]

By Simon Denyer, Published: October 15

GORAKHPUR, India — Pedestrians weave their way through a sea of cars, rickshaws and motorbikes, a desperate scramble for space just making the gridlock worse. The sidewalks are swallowed up by stalls and piles of garbage. The smell of open drains hangs in the air while overhead a web of electric cables crisscrosses the sky.

India is one of the main engines of global population growth, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the crowded northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people. The world’s 7 billionth person will be born on the last day of this month, according to U.N. estimates, and Uttar Pradesh, which added 33 million people to the global population in the last decade, is already staking its claim to be the birthplace of that child.

The world has grown quickly over the last century, adding 1 billion people in just the past 12 years. Though the rate of growth is expected to stabilize around 2050, India’s will continue to climb. In the past decade, the country’s population grew by 17.6 percent, to 1.21 billion, according to provisional census data. Based on current trends, India is set to overtake China as the world’s largest country by 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Here on the fertile but impoverished plains of the Ganges, the government is struggling to cope — India’s infrastructure and environment, its cities and villages, its health-care and education systems are failing to keep pace with ever-growing demands.

But on the narrow streets of the northern Indian city of Gorakhpur, just above eye level, a succession of billboards hints at another side of the population story. Wizard Tutoring, the Achievers Academy and the Epitome Institute for Advanced Learning are just some of the many private colleges that have sprouted here in recent years, offering a dizzying array of courses and qualifications to help people stand out from the crowd.

The billboards give a clue to what could be India’s trump card: Its population is getting younger every year, and the young are hungry for learning. By 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29, and the country, like East Asian economies in the 1970s, is hoping to reap a “demographic dividend” from this army of young people as they enter the workforce and bolster the economy.

That is, of course, provided the young people are educated and trained, and if there are jobs for them to go to. Otherwise, frustrations and social problems will only mount.

“It will be a dividend if we empower our young. It will be a disaster if we fail to put in place a policy and framework where they can be empowered,” said Kapil Sibal, India’s minister of human resource development, who said the country needs to impart job skills to 500 million people over the next decade.

In a country where the official literacy rate of 74 percent may overstate the average level of educational attainment — the public education system is a mess and there is a desperate shortage of good teachers — the scale of the challenge, Sibal admitted, sometimes keeps him awake at night. “It has to be a truly national effort to convert the potential of a demographic disaster into a demographic dividend,” he said.

Read More.

Amid population boom, India hopes for ‘demographic dividend’ but fears disaster - The Washington Post

 

[jdme]

I am confused. What exactly article is trying to say? Boom and gloom?

 

[illuminatidinesh]

I am confused. What exactly article is trying to say? Boom and gloom?

In 2012 India is gonna meet Armageddon

 

[OrionHunter]

There would be so many people in India by 2050 that the entire subcontinent will sink into the depths of the Indian Ocean due to the sheer weight!! OMG!! Another Atlantis in the making!! Lol!

Anyway, what's the point of this thread?

 

[nForce]

Population growth is indeed a matter of concern.

But the good point is we have a huge internal market.A market that absorbs the shocks and tremors felt all over the World during,say Global recession during 2008-09.
While the the markets across the globe plummeted,the Indian economy was fairly strong and withheld its position.
As the World economy enters into yet another recession(mainly European),we yet again see that the Indian economy is doing pretty good.The stock markets are performing pretty well,the indexes are quite stable and green.All this is credited to the huge internal market and its everlasting demand.

Another salient point to be noted is,we do get the best minds when it comes to a knowledge driven industry.The equation is quite simple--more population=more competition=better minds.We always have have a guy who is willing to work harder,to do more than the next guy.Competition is good,and so are its effects,I see that happening on a daily basis.Beat that!!

With the growing population,it is not like the Indians are sitting back at home.No,we dont do that.Depending upon the skill sets,the Indians are present at almost all the corners of the World,in different job profiles.The World has become a global village,and we Indians have this unique advantage of being welcome almost anywhere.Hence we are making full use of the situation and the opportunities that lies ahead of us.

One of the most recent development has been the invasion of Africa(if I may use the term).We are not only using the vast tracts of uninhabited land that African countries offer us,but also sending our people in thousands over there to put it to good use.Karuturi takes the lead when it comes to this.Its not only Africa,but also Australia,Canada,Central Asia.where ever there is land,and the land provides opportunity,we are already there.

Karuturi to outsource Ethiopian land to Indian farmers

Punjab’s land-starved farmers head for Australia

Indian farmers immigrating to Canada under self-employment category for farmers

Indians have already made it big in the software/electronics industry with Indians being one of the largest community in Silicone valley,if not the largest.I must add they are the most accomplished ones too.

Indians most affluent, educated in Silicon Valley


We are also omnipresent,when it comes to mining/oil& natural gas,be it the coal mines in Australia of Southern hemisphere or the Sakhalin project in the extreme northern hemisphere.

India bags stake in Russia's Sakhalin III


I see a bright future for India in times ahead.The World has become a global village.But perhaps the Indians have taken it in its true sense.We are venturing outside,we are going to every possible places where we have opportunity of profit and development,and we are integrating with the societies present there.
So, I guess the huge population of India has been a boon for us.We are good at making the situation work for our advantage.Keep watching!!

 

[Windjammer]

^^^^^

Should have at least checked the dates on the links. !!