MTV launches youth insights portal MTV Play.in

In a bid to capture the attention of its target audience, MTV, the youth channel from Viacom18 stable, has launched a new website, MTVPlay.in. The channel claims that the new online destination peeks into the lives of this fickle audience, their thoughts, and even their fears.

"The website design, the lingo and grammar, even the puns signify the attitude and ambitions of the young," the channel says. It will be an open network and knowledge share platform where one can get regular SMS feeds, newsletters and youth insights by clicking on the subscribe button.

MTV India head Aditya Swamy says, "With MTV Play, we work with a diverse group of young people on a real time basis, which keeps us plugged into what's happening with an 18 year old. And we are happy to share this knowledge with partners, friends and anyone else who might be interested." The project has been co-created along with a team comprising 100+ collegians across 10+ cities in India. The youth network can share their views through closed community blogs, wall posts, and videos. The insights will be backed by extensive research by Third Eye Research Agency and MTV Insight Studio. The website is an ensemble of The 'Youth Speak', a collection of observations and expressions from Youth life.

Raring to Grow

With two-thirds of the population under 35, the world's largest democracy can afford to dream. The average Indian is expected to be only 29 years old in 2020, as against 37 in China and the United States, 45 in western Europe and 48 in Japan. The dreams are taking concrete shape; it's what the world calls a demographic dividend.

Some facts  459 million is the number of Indians between 13 and 35 333 million is the number of literate young Indians 62 per cent of the literate youth live in villages 77 per cent of literate youth are interested in films and music, 72 per cent in news and current affairs, 59 per cent in religious and spiritual topics, 35 per cent in science and technology, and 34 per cent in environmental pollution 98 minutes is the time spent by youth on TV every day, 44 minutes on magazines, 32 minutes on newspapers and 70 minutes surfing the Internet 40 per cent of the literate youth are OBCs, 27 per cent are general castes, 23 per cent are SCs and 10 per cent are STs

In India, it translates into a growing number of literate youngsters, which is both a challenge and an opportunity. India has 459 million youngsters who were born after 1975, the year INDIA TODAY came into being, and just before 1997. These youngsters, from those who have just entered their teens to those about to pass into middle agedom, constitute the people who can and do lead the nation, in business, in arts, in politics and in society. Of these, 333 million are literate, which is 73 per cent of the total youth population. This population of literate youth has grown at 2.49 per cent between 2001 and 2009 which is good news for those who read, according to the National Youth Readership Survey (NYRS-2009) by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Television has not made a dent on newspapers as a source of information; being seen by 54 per cent as a source for entertainment and 22 per cent for news and current affairs; about 63 per cent of the youth read newspapers to gather news and information on current events; only 10 per cent read for entertainment. The Internet-accessed by only 3.7 per cent of the youth-is more of Entertainment Central than an information one-stop shop. It is used for entertainment 14 per cent of the time, for reading books 4 per cent of the time, and for searching for new book titles for 1.2 per cent of the time. It is accessed at Internet cafes in 46 per cent of the cases, at home in 23 per cent of the cases and at the workplace in 13 per cent of the cases. The interests of India's emerging leaders throw up a surprise. While 35 per cent care about science and technology, 34 per cent are concerned about environmental pollution. More expectedly, 77 per cent are interested in music and films, 72 per cent in news and current affairs, and 59 per cent in religion. "With 67 per cent of the literate youth agreeing to reservations for women in Parliament and local government, there is clearly a slow shift in attitudes in the next generation. The fact that so many were from villages and yet voiced opinions of this kind is very promising," says sociologist Dipankar Gupta.
This diversity is evident in the following pages where 35 achievers under 35 are profiled. From Mumbai's school dropout Ajjay Agarwal who began the fast-growing Maxx Mobiles as a Rs 5-lakh start-up to Krishna Mohan Reddy from Berhampur, Orissa, a selftaught dancer who started a group of mostly labourers to win the Colors reality show, India's Got Talent; from the talented, mint fresh National Award winning music composer Amit Trivedi to wrestling champion Sushil Kumar, they have shown determination, innovation and gumption to build their careers.
Many of their narratives echo what the survey shows, that there has been a general tendency on the part of the literate youth to move from rural to urban areas. Rural mobility for long has been confined to the working class but with the increase in demand for skills which require higher education, rural youth are no longer averse to moving out. This is apparent from 82 per cent of the literate youth in the villages being "matriculates or below" and only 6 per cent being graduates, driving them to look beyond the rural limits for their careers. The survey also shows that the average age of Indian youth completing their highest education level is around 15. Data shows that 76 per cent of the literate youth have not gone to college.
And more worryingly, the growth in the number of literate youngsters was more rapid in urban India at 3.15 per cent per annum than in rural at 2.11 per cent, which means that access to education inside India is still low. A clear rural-urban divide is also discernible, in that the proportion of youth with higher education attainments is relatively greater in towns than villages, and gender differences are stark. "The quality of the human resource is of paramount importance," points out Rajesh Shukla, senior fellow, NCAER, and author of the NYRS. The demographic dividend can become a liability unless the growth is made inclusive, notes Isher Judge Ahluwalia, chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. "The current GDP growth rate cannot be termed sustainable as a large chunk of society is not able to reap the benefits," she adds. This can become both an economic and social problem. Economic, because an additional 110 million youngsters are to be added to the workforce by 2020. They will need jobs, good jobs. And social, because of the diverse composition of this force-for instance, 40 per cent of the literate youth are OBCs, 62 per cent live in rural areas, and the biggest chunk, 23 per cent, is from south India.
But then the stories of struggle and of success in the following pages seem to suggest that what India's youth dividend imagines, it also implements.
This article appeared in the India Today magazine dated August 23, 2010

Youth Pulse: What makes the younger crowd flock to sales?

Stores scream ‘Sale’ all the time. What makes the younger crowd flock to sales?

The youth and sales?

There are two kinds of young buyers — the ones who look for only brands, and the ones for whom price is the key buying trigger. The former will never compromise on their core preferences and buy a product just because it’s on sale, while for the latter a discount definitely makes a difference. That said, for the second set, nothing sub-standard would go, even if it’s on sale. ‘Sale’ could also bring to mind ‘clearing of old things’, ‘low quality’ and ‘desperate measures to make us buy’.

Do I wait for it?

For the first set of buyers, a sale isn’t something they would wait for. Their purchase is more impulsive. But the second wait with anticipation for a good deal or a range of options to get their wishlist fulfilled.

Is it cool?

The youth are definitely excited when it comes to clinching the best deals as it makes great conversation with peer groups. But it gets even better if they get a great deal on an aspirational brand, and that is usually when it becomes a purchase of some importance.

How to sell a sale?

The negative values that a young customer attaches to a sale could be addressed by making it an earned privilege. For example, if a sale is packaged in a way that makes it available only for a select few, youngsters would look forward to the purchase and their concerns regarding product quality and the store’s intentions would vanish. Even if such exclusivity is notional, it would be a sure shot winner.


Methodology: A network of ‘student transmitters’ across campuses that act as insight seekers and conversation seeders. The network reaches six metro cities and connects with over 10,000 students. The network has been created by Concrea, a youth marketing & communications agency, part of the Electronic Youth Media Group.

Age Group: 18 - 22 years Want to peek into the mind of the youth? Send us your queries at brand.equity@timesgroup.com

Mangalore youth will show WEF a way to make ore export more profitable

M Raghuram
Vivek Raj, 28, a resident of Mangalore, is among the youngest CEOs of a company that has the potential to become a billion-dollar one. His achievements have been recognised by the World Economic Forum. At Summer Davos in China between September 13 and 15, Vivek will brush shoulders with captains of industry from across the world. Leading lights from Pepsi, Airbus, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Reliance and 100 other companies will be present at the meet. Raj is also scheduled to meet the Queen of Jordon, and the CEOs of Sinosteel, world’s largest steel importer, Nestle and the Chinese prime minister.
The young entrepreneur’s business model is sure to take leaders from core sector industries across the world by surprise. He has developed a formula to add value to low-grade (45 grade) iron ore, so that it is turned into high-grade ore (65 grade) with minimum wastage. “It makes perfect economic sense. All the countries are now looking at importing high-grade magnetite ore, but that is hard to come by. The prospecting for high-grade ore takes a lot of investment and funding, but it is the best way to transform low-grade ore into high-grade ore.”
“I have a technology product called benefaction of ore. This is a process of treating crude ores and mineral products in order to separate valuable minerals from waste rock or gangue. It is the first process that most ores undergo after mining, so that a concentrated material is obtained. The primary operations are called ‘comminution’ and ‘concentration’. I am planning to set up a plant in Goa. The government of Goa has already given me the initial permission to acquire land; this will be the first ore benefaction plant in the country.”Vivek Raj further explained,“It does not make good economic sense to export raw ore. Benefaction of ore will help to create greater value for the produce, as it will be converted into high-grade ore. Crude ore is exported at Rs200 per tonne; if it is subjected to benefaction, it could be sold at Rs3,500 per tonne, which would still be at least 20% below the market rate. That would represent huge forex earnings.”
Such is this young man’s wisdom that he even has a plan for the by-product, ore slurry, which results from the benefaction. He would like to make bricks with the slurry that can be used in construction. Some costs incurred in the whole process will also be covered by the brick manufacturing process.
So how did the young man get into all this? “I come from a poor family. I started work when I was 14. After matriculation, I migrated to New Zealand with the help of a family friend. I studied for an MBA degree, and then took to export of New Zealand’s dairy produce to Sri Lanka. Later, I also started export of mining produce. Then I returned to India and set up Panama Group in Mangalore.”
But why Panama? “Was any ship ever stopped at the Panama Canal?” he asks with a sparkle in his eyes.
m_raghuram@dnaindia.net
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_mangalore-youth-will-show-wef-a-way-to-make-ore-export-more-profitable_1436609

Nepal: Taboo-breaking radio show makes waves among youth

Nepal News, 2010-09-08

KATHMANDU: In a Kathmandu recording studio, young workers sift through piles of letters from Nepalese teenagers seeking advice on everything from unrequited love and homosexuality to drug abuse and HIV.

Two presenters in their early twenties talk animatedly into microphones as they record the latest episode of “Chatting with my Best Friend” or Saathi Sanga Manka Kura (SSMK), one of Nepal’s most listened-to radio shows.

The programme, a blend of discussion, drama and music, was launched nine years ago as part of a project funded by the UN children’s agency UNICEF to spread awareness among Nepalese teenagers about the dangers of HIV and AIDS.  Since then it has become required listening for young people across Nepal, a deeply conservative, majority-Hindu country where teenage sex and drug abuse are usually taboo subjects.

The show — the first to be produced by and for young Nepalese people — began as a half-hour slot on national radio, considered the most effective medium in a country where around a third of the population is illiterate.  Its no-holds-barred approach to sexual health quickly won it a loyal following among young people and within months, so many letters were coming in that it had to double its running time to an hour.

“Before SSMK started, there was no tradition of talking about such problems in Nepal,” said Kaustuv Pokhrel, a former presenter on the show who now works behind the scenes.

“The show was designed in such a way that it felt like your friend talking to you in a non-judgemental way. The hosts talk about anything under the sun — sexual and reproductive health, career or study concerns, family problems, whatever.”

Now, SSMK draws six million listeners a week, is the winner of several international awards, and has even featured “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Orlando Bloom, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, in one of its dramas.

Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF’s Nepal representative, said the mainstream media gave little attention to the issues facing young people before SSMK came along.

“This lack of guidance and information on issues that were important to young people left them feeling a little neglected and also increased their vulnerability to risky behaviour,” she added.

But SSMK’s willingness to tackle any subject has also brought criticism and, on one occasion, the threat of removal from the airwaves after a particularly controversial early episode about masturbation.

“We were accused of putting out vulgar content on the radio, so we invited the station managers in to see the letters we received to show we were not making it up — this really was an issue that concerned young people.

“Eventually they were persuaded, but for a while we had to send them scripts for approval. They said we couldn’t use the word ‘condom’ on the radio, for example, which was problematic.”

The format of the show has barely changed over the years — two young presenters, the “best friends” of the show’s title, discuss listeners’ problems before introducing a short drama in which solutions are found.

But the content has evolved to reflect the changing concerns of its listeners, many of whom were caught up in the civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the state that ended in 2006.

“After a couple of years we began receiving letters complaining that we were focusing on small issues when they country was in such a bad situation,” said Pokhrel.

“We had letters from young people who had joined the Maoists and were afraid to leave, and even from girls who had been raped and were too afraid to tell anyone because of the stigma.”

The letters are all read and answered, usually with a stock reply giving expert advice on the particular issue the writer is interested in, and a few are chosen to be featured on the programme.

Much of the correspondence comes from young people in rural areas of Nepal, where discrimination on caste, ethnic and gender lines is rife, and where most of the violence took place during the 10-year conflict.

The show used to receive between 1,500 and 2,000 letters a month, but Nepal has seen a dramatic increase in mobile phone usage in recent years and they are increasingly being replaced by text messaging.

Equal Access, the international non-profit organisation that makes the show, has exported the idea to other developing countries including Cambodia, Laos and most recently Yemen.

In Nepal, a new generation of young presenters who themselves listened to SSMK as teenagers have recently taken over on the show.

“I loved listening to SSMK but I never imagined I would one day be presenting it,” said SSMK host Swarnima Shrestha, 22.

“It’s hard work, and we’re under constant pressure because people take what we say so seriously. But to be able to touch even one young life feels great.”

How to build a super productive workforce in India

Manu A B in Mumbai

How many of you have wished a change in our education system?

Parul is an intelligent kid. But she dislikes going to school. Everyday she asks her mother, "Why do you send me to school? Why do I have to carry a heavy bag everyday? Why can't I learn everything at home?" And the mother does not have a satisfactory answer.

Amrita, another 8th standard student, religiously studies equations from her chemistry book every night before going to bed. She does it not out of the love for the subject but out of peer pressure to score high marks. And she dreams of a day when she will never have to touch chemistry books

There are thousands of children like them for whom the education system is a burden. "For years, students continue to learn from the same old textbooks, subjects which are of no interest to them. Instead of discovering the potential of kids, and honing their capabilities towards subjects they like, all are forced to study just to score high marks in the examinations," says a teacher who looks forward to a radical change in the education system.

"India, the 1.1-billion people nation, currently has 600 million youth below 25 years of age of which only 320 million are in schools and colleges; less than 25 per cent are employable! The youngest nation on the planet continues to be plagued with a severe job-talent mismatch," says Amit Bhatia, founder and CEO, Aspire India.

The failure of government schools in imparting good education for all and the mushrooming of thousands of incompetent private schools from the primary level to the professional level have tarnished the quality of the education system.

"We have not leveraged the power of education. Our engineers have become people who learn by rote, pass the examination and are incapable of making a difference to the society," Narayana Murthy, Infosys mentor, said on the occasion of Teacher's Day.

And none of the Indian universities figure among the top 100 universities of the world.

So where have we gone wrong?

'Youth' is the buzzword for Hiring Companies in India

Today we are living in an era where companies are hiring as well as firing a lot of people at the same time. Then what has led to this new trend where lots of older people are getting fired and younger ones are being recruited? Let us examine this issue.

The culture of business outsourcing and the increased need for companies, especially those in service sector, to establish their own call centres have favored the hiring of younger people over the older ones.

Business outsourcing effectively means that the older and the higher paid staff are relieved from their job in the company back office, and the work outsourced to other agencies, many a time in different countries, who then recruit the younger persons, generally in their early twenties to do the work.

Same is the case with call-centres. It must be admitted in this type of work migration, many a times across seamless borders, saving on staff salaries are prime consideration. This type of work is routine in nature, and does not need any specialized skills.

Thus the younger people with their greater stamina and enthusiasm fit the bill perfectly and accept the job with alacrity. Further the work does call for working in shifts, both day and night. The strenuous nature of work then makes the younger people the natural choice.

The other reason that might also be attributed to the increasing trend of recruiting younger people is the advancement in technology. Today we are living in a very dynamic world, a world where technologies changes every minute.

Old technologies and methods are becoming obsolete. In this era of fast change only young generation would be able to adjust and cope up with the newer trends and emergingtechnologies. Youngsters are more techno-savvy than their old counterparts.

This is so because they have grown in an era where the latest technologies like the computers, mobiles and the internet have made lives speedy and easy.

The corporate sector in order to earn their profits has to adapt to the new technologiesotherwise they will perish. The increasing thrust towards adoption of new technology, outsourcing, and efficacy to produce desired output has made the increased hiring of younger people imperative.

‘India has to keep its youth in good health to become a developed nation'

COIMBATORE: India needs to keep its youth in good health, C. Rajendran, Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise, Coimbatore, said here on Monday.
Speaking at The Hindu-KG Hospital ‘Special Preventive Health Check-up for Teachers', he said the quality of health of the 64-crore youth was important than their being a majority of the population. “India needs fit, healthy youth to become a developed nation. And it is the only way the country can catch up with China.”
Chinese followed a healthy lifestyle; most of their food items were boiled. Indians, on the other hand, fried most of their items. Their lifestyle had also changed. “Is it development or degradation?”
Mr. Rajendran said it was regrettable that India was high on the list of nations with most diabetic, heart patients, persons with Hepatitis B and other diseases. “This is no way to catch up with China, whose share in world production was far higher than India's,” he said.
Teachers' role in shaping India was important because they could make or destroy a generation. In that context, their health was important. And they could not afford to fail because their failure would mean the failure of a generation.
He also asked the teachers to constantly update their knowledge. Quoting a Tirukkural, he said, “If somebody has knowledge, go beg him or her to learn that.”
G. Bakthavathsalam, Chairman, KG Hospital, asked the teachers not to show their anger on students. Students should not undergo corporal punishment, or any physical or mental stress on account of the teachers.
He asked them to consider teaching as God's calling and said it was no nine-to-five job. Only happy teachers would make good teachers. To be happy they needed to be in good health, he added.
The Hindu-KG Hospital medical camp is open for teachers, including retired, and their family members. Master health check-up is provided at a nominal cost. It is a goodwill gesture from the organisers to the teachers to commemorate Teachers' Day. Those interested could register for the health check-up at the special counter at KG Hospital, Arts College Road, Coimbatore. The offer is valid from September 7 to 14. For further details, contact R. Jeyakumar, General Manager, on 98422-21801 or R. Gandhirajan, PRO, at 98422-66630.

What India, China owe their young

Comparisons of India and China are inevitable, and will keep being made. They are both fast-growing population giants, but with many differences. Comparisons also tend to imply a degree of competition. Competition can be zero-sum, as when one supplier displaces another for a fixed market, or when one buyer locks in a given supply of a natural resource at the expense of another. India and China will both be subject to these kinds of competition. On top of this economic competition, there is political competition, for global power and prestige. This can also be couched in utilitarian terms, of risk reduction or providing a stronger base for access to resources and markets. But emotions and ideologies can also be a major factor in political competition. Territorial disputes are clearly zero-sum, although they become embedded in a larger arena of competition, with egos and image entering the mix.

For centuries, the European powers, followed by the US, carved up the rest of the world for its natural resources to fuel their industrial growth. They also fought with each other, often with horrible consequences. Yet they became, and still are, so much richer than either India or China. The lever of these riches (to use economic historian Joel Mokyr's metaphor) was innovation. In my last column, I made the case that entrepreneurship drives the harnessing of technological progress for economic betterment. This was Joseph Schumpeter's original insight. If innovation and entrepreneurship are key drivers of growth, how do India and China stack up?
On the fundamental measure of ease of doing business, China is not a world leader, ranking only 89th. Yet this is far better than India's rank of 133. Looking at the components of the overall ranking, China does much better on trading across borders, which is no surprise. China is also relatively more business-friendly in ease of closing a business. But it also outperforms India in registering property and enforcing contracts. If entrepreneurship is starting small businesses, but ones that have a formal legal status so that they can expand easily, India puts itself at a huge disadvantage. It will be critical for the current set of reforms on company law, land acquisition and related matters that affect entrepreneurship, to move forward, if India is to remove its handicaps.
India's poor governance is also a matter of concern. There are good reasons for improving governance that have nothing to do with business or material well-being, though ultimately, good governance should help citizens to lead better lives. Measures of governance along several dimensions also exist. Indians enjoy much more political freedom than Chinese. India also does better, or no worse, than China on corruption, rule of law and quality of regulation. While China is ahead of India in 'government effectiveness'. This dimension of governance is subjectively measured, but it includes of the quality of public services, the civil service, policy formulation and implementation, and of the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. India is a messy democracy, but there is no reason it cannot do better on these criterion, especially for those of its citizens (businessmen or not) who are outside the elite. Better public infrastructure and services will also have an impact on the ease of doing business, complementing needed legal and regulatory reforms.
Not everything can be reduced to numbers and rankings. Other areas that are important for innovation include the efficiency of the tax system, specific incentives and legal protections for intellectual property, attitudes towards risk and failure, and capabilities. Capabilities depend on everything from childhood nutrition to higher education—India's failures here go back to poor government effectiveness. India also lags in the quality of its tax system, though this should quickly change for the good, with pending reforms. The reward system for innovation has not yet received enough explicit attention, but India has the potential to outstrip China on this front.
Perhaps the place where India has the greatest opportunity is in its youth. India's youth, beyond the elite, are beginning to have confidence to compete globally. And there will be many more of them than in China. In the US, the baby boomers created social upheaval in the 1960s, but also drove the great wave of innovation in the 1980s and 1990s. The Facebook and Twitter generation is piggybacking on the changes wrought by their parents. The young are naturally more innovative, but they need the environment and infrastructure in which to succeed. They need education, jobs and opportunities to be creative. In 1914, Europe's leaders sent millions of their youth to die needlessly in trenches, and solved nothing. Another World War then had to be fought. Surely, India and China will figure out how to do better. Their leaders owe it to their young people.

The author is professor of economics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Spot the lecturer in this class

Keerat Kaur’s Facebook profile looks like any other 22-year old’s, till you notice that she’s a degree college lecturer. Kaur, who recently completed her mass communications’ course from Symbiosis, Pune, has been teaching at Wilson College’s Bachelor of Mass Media course for the past three months.
She’s just a year or two senior to her students and it’s fun to play ‘spot the professor’ in the classroom while she’s in huddled discussions with her students, often involving them in tasks which include interpreting a variety of paintings, music and short films.
It’s a similar sight sometimes at Juhu beach, where students of Rizvi College of Architecture gather with their lecturer, 29-year old Farzan Khatri. Just 7-8 years older than most of his students, Khatri recently spent an afternoon with them on the beach, helping them practise architecture of a different kind — building sand castles.
Meanwhile, at IIT-Powai’s Industrial Design Centre, Girish Dalvi, 28, teaches typography in Devanagiri script, specialising in the use of the script for the web. His passion: to get students thinking. “In India, for long, teachers were considered Gods, truly righteous, and information purveyors of the highest order. The result was that teachers started trying to form an army of their own clones, through their students. That guru-shishya parampara has come in for a change now,” he says, impassionately.
Meet India’s next breed of teaching talent, who, with the blessings of their grey-haired senior counterparts are bridging the generation gap with students. They’re more easily absorbed in courses that lend itself to creativity. Their big promise: youth, enthusiasm, approachability, and the ability to relate to their students better. The stereotypical image of a teacher as someone who was kind yet stern, a mother/ fatherly figure, is seeing a transition. Today, ‘friendly’ is the new cool.
“Earlier, people would be apprehensive about talking casually with their teachers, now they treat them as friends,” says Sushma Pandit, 34, a primary school teacher at Kapol Vidyanidhi
International School, Kandivli. Having been in the profession for the last ten years, Pandit feels the trend of young teachers is a good one. “Because of them, today, even senior teachers are keeping themselves updated with new ideas. They are open to change and are trying to get more involved,” she says.
It doesn’t mean that young enthusiasm is a substitute for experience. Mary Gonsalves, a counsellor at Maneckji Cooper High School, Juhu, who has been a teacher for the last 35 years, points out: “If you believe in the adage that experience is the best teacher, then these youngsters fall short,” she says, adding that a healthy mix of teachers from different age groups is the best and most needed combination of the hour.
“The younger teachers are more in touch with current trends and culture. At the same time, school children like the older teachers, as they are more understanding and patient.” Professor Sudhakar Solomon Raj of Wilson College, who was responsible for hiring Keerat Kaur, himself began teaching at the young age of 21. “What one looks for in a teacher is passion for the subject and great communication skills. So the inflow of young professors into the educational system is nothing new. It’s always been the case in schools and colleges — there will be some professors who are young and some who are very senior.”
Professor Joseph Campana, who teaches at Xaviers Institute of Communication and American School of Bombay, agrees, and is amused to know that his students think of him as someone who is young though he’s in his early 40s. He laughs, “I don’t think being effective as a teacher has anything to do with age. It is more a function of enthusiasm about your job.There’s a general view that students like teachers who are more technology savvy; but in my experience, there are actually mixed reactions. I’m not on social networking sites like Facebook myself.”

Today's young politicians inspire Bollywood stars

NEW DELHI: Call it a reflection of changing times or a desire to be real, young Indian leaders like Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi are defining the image of on-screen politicians in Bollywood.

Till recently, politicians had been portrayed as old, potbellied and often sleazy. That has now changed.

Abhishek Bachchan, who played a young politician in R Balakrishnan's 'Paa' says he modelled his look on young leaders like Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora.

"I modelled my look after Sachine Pilot and Milind Deora in the film. There were no special effects taken for my look in the movie because we wanted to keep the character as normal as possible," Bachchan had said about his role.

The actor will be playing a young leader once again in Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se', where he portray's the role of communist activist Surya Sen, who was hanged by the British. Based on Manini Chatterjee's 'Do And Die', the film tells the story of 1930 Chittagong uprising.

Similarly, 24-year-old Deepika Padukone, who is famous for her glamourous roles, has opted for cotton sarees and a no make-up look to play Sen's comrade Kalpana Datta.

Katrina Kaif, in the latest Prakash Jha hit 'Raajneeti' picked up pointers for her character from Priyanka Gandhi. Kaif said she watched Priyanka's election videos to get her body language and look right.

"Priyanka is a young, strong, independent and modern leader with the right blend of values. Though my character is not based on her, I watched her campaign videos to observe her body language and how she campaigns and interacts with the crowd," Kaif said.
Earlier, reports had said Katrina's character in 'Raajneeti' was modelled on Sonia Gandhi and that had landed the film in trouble with the censors. But Katrina's admission that Priyanka was her inspiration, quelled the controversy.

Jha, who mixed epic Mahabharata and 'The Godfather' to make his blockbuster, said his film was a reflection of the changing face of Indian politics.

"The Gandhi-topi and dhoti-kurta wearing politician is a thing of past. Today politicians are young have studied in foreign universities. They are from the urban milieu," Jha said.

Other Bollywood hits focusing on the youth politics in India are Mani Ratnam's 'Yuva', Varma's 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raj', Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulal', Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Satta', Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Haasil' and Gulzar's 1975 classic 'Aandhi' and 'Maachis'. 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Todays-young-politicians-inspire-Bollywood-stars/articleshow/6498137.cms 

Youth must set goals for future, says Abid Hussain

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 6: Addressing the first batch of diploma holders (Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering) from the Indian Maritime University (IMU), Visakhapatnam, Dr Abid Hussain, noted economist and former Indian Ambassador to the US and chancellor of the Indian Maritime University urged youngsters to set early goals in a fast changing global environment.

Mr Hussain said, “The youth of India have a major role to play in nation building what with the country facing many challenges.”

He added, “Present generation must strive for excellence in whatever they do and cannot afford to have a lackadaisical attitude either towards their responsibilities or their ambitions.”

Mr Hussain later awarded the certificates to the four diploma holders who passed out. The director of IMU, Mr S.C. Mishra, Visakhapatnam Port Trust chairman Mr Ajey Kallam, and IMU vice-chancellor Dr T. Vijayan and Hindustan Shipyard Limited chairman and managing director Mr Naresh Kumar were present.

 

Young ’uns rule the roost

Genesia Alves 

They used to say ‘youth is king’ but youth today is also entrepreneur, inventor, conqueror, innovator, super-achiever. Like software and technology that evolve in ever-steeper, ever-quicker ‘generations’, young people unencumbered by experience and high on the potential of ‘here and now’ everyday re-shape, re-program and rewrite the world we live in and the future that awaits us.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook made him at 26, the youngest billionaire in the world.

While cementing the validity of online social networking, generating new terminology and evolving the way ‘society’ functions for its 400 million members. Around the world, from surgeons to sports heroes, musicians to mountaineers, the blossoming begins in their teens and the peaks begin to be conquered in their early twenties. Here in India, IIT, our receptacle of genius, is already home to a very, very young professor, Tathagat Tulsi, 22 while Sahal Kaushik, at 14, the youngest to have ever cleared IIT’s Joint Entrance Exam, just won a gold at the 21st International Biology Olympiad in Korea.

As you struggle to keep up with the brash, brilliant bunch, take comfort from this: after years of struggling with her population, bright, bushy-tailed India is getting ready to reap the rewards of the ‘demographic dividend’ – a prosperity forecast based on a very happy ratio of a young population with a controlled fertility rate. In plain-speak – by 2020, the average Indian will be in his or her twenties, productive, healthy, with a great career ahead of him or her and fewer dependents to weigh him down. As they go from cradle to crest, on World Youth Day, it’s comforting to know the future has taken itself into its own capable hands and is doing very, very well.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloids/young-%E2%80%99uns-rule-roost-910

A neglected lot?

A teacher, working as she is against pressures from multiple fronts, can make or break a child. Yet, why is teacher training such a low priority?

As Veena waits outside her son's school gate, she witnesses widespread disenchantment with teachers. “My son does not know his tables and he's in the fourth. Why can't his teacher insist that he learns them?” “Mala's teacher corrects very unfairly. She cuts marks for small mistakes.” “Dev was scolded by his teacher, who everyone says is mean. The poor kid is feeling so bad.”

Being a high-school teacher of 15 years, Veena maintains a stoic silence. She knows the stresses and struggles her job entails. Bombarded by pressure on all fronts — from unreasonably high parental expectations to student misbehaviour, from the management exhorting teachers to achieve 100 per cent results in board exams to students griping about marks — the travails of a teacher's job makes her sigh. And, the most hurtful part is that her efforts are not recognised, let alone lauded, by anyone.

Status in society

Krishna Kumar, the former director of NCERT, aptly writes, “In our society, education is not regarded as a serious profession. Teaching, which comprises the heart of education, has a poor status, especially if you teach children as opposed to youth… But it is not just the teacher of young children who has low professional status; those who train teachers fare no better. Indeed, teacher training can be accurately described as the centre of India's educational depression.”

Right after completing her B.Ed., Veena remembers her trepidation as she faced her first batch of 60 adolescents. Unlike a medical degree, which requires students to intern under an experienced doctor for a year, Veena was simply thrust into a classroom and expected to perform right from day one. Without any mentoring or guidance from more experienced colleagues, Veena learnt the ropes on the job. The short-term workshops offered by various consultants and experts at the end of every academic year at her school provided only stray tidbits of advice; even today, after 15 years of teaching, when Veena feels unsure of a student, she has to steer her own boat. Her B.Ed. did not prepare her sufficiently on how to motivate failing students, deal with inattention and open defiance, cater to children with learning difficulties, address parental anxieties or create a classroom of lifelong readers. Given the inadequacy of her training, Veena does her best to deliver effective lessons.

As children traverse the academic ladder from kindergarten to college, all parents hope that their wards are blessed with good teachers. While we look back on our own student days, most of us have memories of good and poor teachers. But the outstanding teacher who inspired passion and creativity and instilled trust and confidence was usually the exception. While we intuitively accept that a teacher can indeed “make or break” a child, why then do we invest so little in creating excellent teachers? Why are teachers in India not accorded the status that the profession rightly deserves? Instead of engaging in unproductive teacher bashing, which does not serve anyone's interests, least of all our children, we need to upgrade teacher education programmes and elevate the status of teachers so that more children fall under the magnetic spell of master teachers. On par with IITs and IIMs, teacher training in India needs to be rejuvenated by oases of excellence that attract bright and talented youth to be champion teachers.

But what constitutes outstanding teaching? To most of us, excellent teaching is an elusive quality that a teacher does or doesn't possess. Like great works of art, its characteristics cannot be pinned down. However, a recent study by educationist Doug Lemov suggests that inspiring teaching is a craft that can be mastered by acquiring and honing skills. While Lemov accedes that great teaching is an art, he emphasises that every artist has to first learn and master the tools of the craft before producing masterpieces. Can ordinary teachers then be trained to perform better and achieve extraordinary results? Lemov suggests they can. He tracked teachers who had succeeded in producing high-achieving students despite having the odds of poverty, truancy and broken homes stacked against their students. These teachers were the outliers who defied predictions and produced high-performers. Right from the moment they entered class to their leave-taking, Lemov noted what these teachers did differently. Rather than spinning lofty educational theories, Lemov offers “concrete, specific, actionable” techniques that any teacher can adopt to refine her teaching style.

In a technique called No Opt Out, a teacher returns to a student who fails to answer a question the first time. For example, Ms. Jamal asks, “What is a prime number, Jaya?” The child falters, “Miss, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9…” “Those are odd numbers Jaya. Samir, tell Jaya why 9 is not a prime number?” “Because it has 3 as a factor.” The teacher then persists, “Now, Jaya, can you tell me what a prime number is?” By not accepting that a child cannot answer a question, the teacher subtly conveys that everyone can succeed. While Jaya gets it right on the third try, Ms. Jamal has communicated that all children in her class are capable of learning. This also gives Jaya the confidence to persist despite getting an answer wrong. No child in Ms. Jamal's class can get away with a “Don't know.”

Outstanding teachers also set high expectations for students by not accepting anything but an answer that is 100 per cent accurate. They insist that children respond in complete sentences and stretch them by asking questions even after an answer is given. So when Mr. Jacob asks the class, “What is a peninsula?” and Arati responds by saying ‘India', he says, “That's an example. Give me a definition.” When Arati ventures, “A piece of land that projects into water,” he persists, “Can you expand on that definition? How is it different from an island?” The child says, “Connected to the mainland,” and the teacher continues, “Good. Now tell me what a peninsula is in a complete sentence.” After Arati gives the correct answer, he further challenges the class, “What is the difference between a peninsula and a gulf?”

Crucial component

Planning is an integral component of remarkable teaching. Visionary teachers spell out measurable teaching goals before drawing up lesson plans. Great teachers also pay attention to details. Activities like distributing papers, collecting homework etc. are practised and perfected to a high degree of efficiency so that only around 10 seconds of precious class time are wasted. Likewise, they use positive framing to instill discipline, usually preempting misbehaviour.

Lemov's claim that the craft of teaching can be mastered echoes the findings of a report published by McKinsey and Company in 2007. While India was not a part of the study, the findings suggest how we might overhaul teacher education. McKinsey analysed school systems in 25 countries including top performers on international assessments like Belgium, Finland, Netherlands and Singapore. While countries differed greatly on dimensions of culture, politics and school systems, high-performing nations have three common features.

Talented graduates with strong communication and interpersonal skills and a deep-seated desire to teach are selected for competitive teacher education programmes. Furthermore, even on the job, teachers are provided with intensive training and support. During the formative years of their careers, young teachers are mentored by more experienced colleagues. Finally, children with difficulties receive intervention so that they can catch up on lagging skills.

As we pay tribute to educators across the country on Teacher's Day, we may consider investing more heavily in teacher training and mentoring programmes. Historian and educator Henry Adams succinctly captures the enormous scope and potential of this age-old profession: "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

The director is Director, PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment and Intervention. E-mail: arunasankara@gmail.com

Youth, real wealth of India: Nair

Former chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr G Madhavan Nair on Sunday described India emerging as a country with highest youth population as the real wealth.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 95th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Shivarathri Rajendra Mahaswamiji of Suttur Mutt organised at the Mutt near the foot of Chamundi Hills in the city. “If the youth were imparted with education to hone their skills, the country can meet the requirement of both national and global level in the coming days”, Dr Nair noted. To achieve the same, all it needs is a particular vision and dream of the future, he added. Nair said, the facilities must reach villages and it is only through education development of rural parts would be a reality. Of the 700 million villages in India, half of the population is below poverty line. They should be assured of food security, besides water and health. Saying that India is endowed with intellectual people since history, Nair said it is due to the progress achieved in those days, the country is enjoying most of the advanced facilities in the present days. It may be security or information, there is a million fold increase in its availability. Nair was happy to note that India has emerged as a global power and cited the example of ‘Chandrayaan-1’, as a path breaking discovery in the field of space. Former president, Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Prof G S Siddalingaiah in his ‘Nudi Namana’ went down memory lane recalling the odds Rajendra Swamiji had to face in establishing hostels for the benefit of students. “Swamiji had to sell the valuables in his possession to meet the expenditure pertaining to food at the hostel”, said Siddalingaiah. Vice-chancellor, Dr Gangubai Hanagal, Music and Performing Arts  University, Dr Hanumanna Nayaka Dore said that the contribution of veerashaivas to the field of music is immense. Veerashaiva Punyashrama in Gadag is dedicated to music irrespective of caste, he said. Vice-chancellor, Rani Chennamma University, Belgaum Dr B R Ananthan and  Vice-chancellor, Gulbarga University, Dr E T Puttaiah spoke about their association with the mutt since several decades. Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, Prof V G Talawar also spoke. Mayor Sandesh Swamy in his presidential address hailed Rajendra Swamiji as a man of mettle who set an example for others by selling valuables, for the cause of education, when the educational institutions are mushrooming only to reap enormous wealth. The bust of Rajendra Mahaswamiji placed on a flower bedecked sliver palanquin, mounted on an open jeep was taken out in a procession from JSS Mahavidyapeetha to Suttur Mutt. The procession was accompanied by several cultural troupes. Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji, MLCs Prof K R Mallikarjunappa, Thontadarya and others were present.

Religious group to impart skills to rural youth

Simurali (WB) Sep 2 (PTI) A group of Roman Catholics will train rural youths in vocational skills like cattle-rearing, carpentry, farming, welding, pisciculture and driving. The group, called the Adoration Brothers of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, was established on June 11 with Archbishop of Kolkata Lucas Sirkar inducting five men in it.

"When I was at the youth commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, I was thinking what could be done for the rural youth. I wanted to have a group of men who will go and train the youth in their own places," Sirkar told PTI during a visit to the monastery here.
According to Sirkar, the Brothers will train youths in vocational skills like cattle-rearing, carpentry, farming, welding, pisciculture and driving. How are the Brothers different from other Roman Catholic religious congregations? "They will not be able to work in schools and hospitals as they will have to spend nearly four hours in prayer and Eucharistic adoration.
That will be central to their lives, like the hermits of old," he said. Sirkar, who founded the Adoration Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1986 as the then Bishop of Krishnagar, said he was once asked by Mother Teresa to have Religious engage in Eucharistic adoration in every parish.
"This is my response to her call." .

Plan to involve youth in policy formulation

The HinduIN DISCUSSION: (From left) Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, Minister for State Youth Affairs &Sports; K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission and C.R. Kesavan, deputy president, RGNIYD at a function at Sriperumbudur on Wednesday. Photo: R. Ragu

The Ministry of Youth Affairs plans to set up a portal to provide a forum for the youth to participate in formulation of policy, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Foundation Day celebrations of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development (RGNIYD), Mr. Patil said the portal sought to give voice to the aspirations of the youth and increasingly engage them in the planning process. “The Ministry is planning to move youth affairs to the foreground of planning and policy-making and encourage youth to have a say in governance.”

According to him, the Education Ministry was also conceiving interdisciplinary courses in medicine and engineering. For instance, doctors these days needed to have a bit of engineering skills to implant mechanical devices and lawyers had to have a fair level of expertise in an area such as DNA testing.

The Minister released the Youth Development Index and Report and a compendium of articles, ‘Unfolding Tribal Mindset with Focus on North-East of India,' brought out by the RGNIYD.

Delivering the third Foundation Day lecture, K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission and former ISRO chairman, said the early failures of the country's space missions provided important stepping stones to success.

Using the ISRO experience to encourage the youth to use failures as a learning opportunity, Mr. Kasturirangan said some of the failures such as an occasion when three rockets failed and the fourth was abandoned helped scientists detect faults “early in the game,” and avoid carrying them into bigger vehicles.

He recounted how the ISRO overcame a glitch to facilitate a successful maiden flight for a geosynchronous satellite. India was only the fourth nation to develop such a satellite and it took eight years to assemble. But, the rocket failed to take off after countdown. A team of scientists toiled to work out the possible scenarios for the anomaly and, finally, the satellite was launched in orbit after 18 days.

The ISRO's spirit of innovation that led to the development of some of the world's best remote sensing satellites for specific applications and the team work behind space missions were the other lessons for the youth, Mr. Kasturirangan said.

A.K. Upadhyay, Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, called for earmarking a larger role for youth in the nation-building process in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. He pointed out that the estimated 8 million youth enrolled in the two lakh rural youth clubs across the country presented a resource base that could be leveraged to deliver various national programmes.

C. R. Kesavan, RGNIYD vice-president, said the institute aimed to capitalise on the demographic dividend in a country where 40 per cent of the population was in the 15-35 age group.

P. Michael Vetha Siromony, RGNIYD Director, spoke.

Geriatric Power

Reaffirming that age has never been an obstacle for Indian politicians, a recent report lists India as the country with the oldest head of government as well as the oldest ministerial cabinet among 15 of the largest economies in the world. At 78, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is one of the only two septuagenarians on the list. The average age of the Indian cabinet 64.4 years is almost two-and-a-half times the country's median age at 25.9. This is far greater than most of the developed economies where the difference is only a decade or so. Even the Chinese leadership is more youthful with an average cabinet age of 61.2 years.

We might have one of the youngest populations in the world, but the difference in age between our leaders and the populace is palpable. There is thus an increasing disconnect between the leadership and the people. Apart from the age gulf dynastic politics too is a massive hurdle to youth finding expression. The present lot of young leaders has to live in the shadow of political patriarchs until the latter make way, which in the Indian context could take an extraordinarily long time. A gerontocracy is fundamentally conservative and risk-averse, blocking reform in any direction. India's yawning age gulf goes a long way towards explaining the quality of the leadership we get. Reservation for women is now a hot-button political issue. Perhaps we also need to think in terms of reservation for youth, leaving out the creamy layer of those who come with dynastic connections. Institutionalisation of inner-party democracy would help, too.

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Reforming India's Universities

KANTI BAJPAI, Aug 21
 
If India is to build a stable liberal democracy, if we are to empower the vast mass of the Indian public, if we want to give ourselves a more equitable and fair society, and if we want sustainable economic growth, then our university system desperately needs to be reformed. The UPA government has understood this. Its plan to massively expand the university system is recognition that the idea of a liberal, empowering, just and sustainable India depends on a vibrant, expanding higher education system.

Critics have argued that quantity will come at the cost of quality. This is correct, but as Kapil Sibal, the minister for human resources development, has recognised, there is simply no alternative. Over the longer term, quality should improve. One way of dealing with the fall in standards is to bring in foreign talent. India's university system is depressingly Indian. You can walk the corridors of academe and not see a single foreign face amongst the faculty. Our university system does not embody universality. Like Indian industry in the 1960s and 1970s, it has shut out foreigners and has suffered as a result.

India's universities need to be made more 'universal' if they are to flourish. The latest ranking of world universities shows that India has a long way to go in higher education. Its once proud university system, the best in Asia after the Second World War, has fallen on very bad times. It is not that Indian university education has languished altogether. The IITs (even though they have a lot to answer for), IIMs and a host of other universities such as Delhi and JNU have brought high quality higher education to India. Nevertheless, relative to the rest of the world, India has fallen behind. It has also fallen behind in terms of India's demographics. Our much-vaunted 'demographic dividend' and 'youth bulge' will turn into a social and political nightmare if we do not expand and improve university education.

Bringing in foreign talent will help our university system. If we look around the world, we will see that no university system of any repute is insular, certainly not as insular as India's. Even China, with its authoritarian political system and its relative lack of English competence, has thousands of foreign faculty.

Historically, there is no major university system that has been self-sufficient. This is particularly true of the American university system which drew and continues to recruit massively from Europe and other continents. A university must be as universal as possible in terms of recruiting talent. Recruitment in India must be opened up not just to NRIs. It must be opened up to everyone Asians, Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Latin and North Americans that has the English language competence to teach in India.

The presence of foreign faculty will not only help bridge the gap in quality teachers. It will also have an impact on Indian colleagues. Good quality teachers from abroad will have a powerful demonstration effect. Indian universities, like Indian schools, suffer from teacher absenteeism, from lack of professionalism in terms of classroom transactions, from a lackadaisical approach to supervision and from abysmal research. Foreign colleagues, just in the normal course of their functioning, will both embarrass and inspire Indian counterparts.

More than any amount of exhortation from the HRD ministry or vice-chancellors or articles in newspapers, it is this that will energise the Indian faculty. Of course, hiring foreigners will cost us money. It will also require adjustment in our horrible visa and residency rules. We could save money by hiring foreigners on a part-time basis, at least in the beginning; see the experience of the Indian School of Business. And surely it is not beyond our home ministry, mad as it is, to amend our approach to visas and residency. India's national interest requires that we find the money and construct an entry system for foreign teachers. Above all, it requires that we change our attitude to the presence of foreign faculty in our universities.

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India needs cadre of skilled youth: Kalam

Staff Reporter
— FILE Photo: PTI

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Bangalore: “No Indian youth should be without either a world class higher education or without world class skill sets,” former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said here on Sunday.
Interacting with students and faculty at the Oxford Educational Institutions, he said that India needs a large number of talented youth with higher education “for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing”.
A large segment of India's population — 540 million people — is under the age of 25, he added.
India's university education system contributes three million graduates and post-graduates every year and the country's schools educate seven million a year.
“Educational systems should create two cadres of personnel — a global cadre of skilled youth… and another cadre of youth with higher education,” he said.
These cadres will be needed “not only for powering the manufacturing and services sectors of India but also… to [fulfil] the human resource requirements of various countries in specialised areas in science, technology, humanities and management,” said Prof. Kalam.
“The university system will have to work towards increasing the output of the higher education system from the existing 11 per cent to 15 per cent by 2015, 20 per cent by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2030,” he said.
In his inimitable style, Prof. Kalam charmed his young audience with his inspirational messages, some that he exhorted the students to repeat after him.
“Defeat the problem and succeed” was the central theme of his address, which he illustrated with examples from history and contemporary personalities.
It was his creative streak that helped Mario Capecchi overcome acute adversity and win the Nobel Prize, he said. Likewise, initial failure did not deter the genius A.K. Ramanujan, he added.
The former President acknowledged the work of H. Sudarshan, founder of Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra, at BR Hills.
“In the present circumstances and environment, it was inspiring to see how a MBBS doctor has put all his dreams in mainstreaming the tribal citizens of Karnataka for the last 25 years,” he said.
Potential
Addressing students of the Presidency Group of Institutions at an interactive session at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium, Prof. Kalam said that India has all the resources to become a developed nation by 2020 but lack of confidence among its youth was increasingly becoming a hindrance to make this dream a reality.
He said that India has made progress in various sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing, and it is leading the information technology revolution.
“We have everything to become a developed nation. However, the confidence level of our youth is a worry,” he said.
For students, it was a special class by “Kalam Sir” and they welcomed him with a huge applause, and some of them presented flowers too.
They were eagerly waiting to hear his speech and “Kalam Sir” did not disappoint them.

http://hindu.com/2010/08/30/stories/2010083060010400.htm
He taught them how to have “wings to fly” and urged them to “dream big”.

The burden of youth

SHAILAJA CHANDRA

The outlook for India’s youth is not as rosy as it is assumed. The population explosion and denying young women their right to decide on matters that impact their lives will only bring in more problems, not solutions…

Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

They deserve better: Better education, better opportunities...

Raise the topic of population and expect the following reactions: India will have the last laugh because its population is youthful and would continue to be so for decades more. Or, there is the Nandan Nilekeni idea which is fast becoming popular with optimistic urbanites — that a second hump of opportunity might miraculously emerge from the laggard Hindi belt States.
This oversimplification can cost us dearly. The demographic dividend argument is used in the West to signify the proportion of working people compared to retirees. In India, the so called dividend is actually represented by a disproportionately high number of young people who for the most part would be incapable of staying rooted to the school system and thereby end up uneducated and unemployable. In short, a burden on society.
Among them, girls will continue to have early pregnancies and their underweight infants will have poor chances of survival. For those that live, the cycle of malnutrition, stunting and wasting will be perpetrated and inequities will grow. Across the country, the regional and intra-State disparity would widen and resources for health and education would get sucked up or scattered before they can get to those in the greatest need. This is a recipe for disaster.

A development issue

Governments need to recognise that population is not merely a health issue but an overarching development issue. Concrete measures are urgently needed to enforce the prevention of Child Marriage 2006 Act and to make marriage registration compulsory. Incentives are needed to push up the woman’s age at first birth and to make birth spacing attractive. Instead of honing in on a broad category called Below Poverty Line (BPL) it would make sense to target the lowest wealth quintile where fertility rates are disturbingly high.
Alok Ranjan Chaurasia and S. Gulati in “India the State of Population 2007” have divided the country into three groups. In the first group there are the Hindi belt States and some north-eastern states like Manipur and Meghalaya. Together they will account for more than half the population growth in the country by 2026. In these States, lowering fertility will be very difficult as the majority of couples use no contraception. Among the poorest families in these States, the “wanted fertility” factor, when parents want larger families as insurance against old age and to provide additional hands for work, is as high as 40 per cent of the total fertility. A “techno-medical model” of family planning as Chaurasia and Gulati call it, with a focus on female sterilisation will quite simply not work, because many couples actually want more children.
In the rest of the population of these States, including poorer families who do not want more children, a huge unmet demand for contraception exists. By present indications, the goal of two children per woman set for the country by 2010 will not even be achieved in the next two decades by these States. The New York Times mocked India’s “paradox of a proud democracy”, describing the persistence of child hunger and galloping malnutrition levels as worse than sub-Saharan African countries. Given this scenario, nothing can succeed unless the numbers become manageable. And waiting for trickle-down to happen, much less miracles to emerge from the sheer weight of a youthful population is being completely unrealistic.
In the second group, Gulati et al include States like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana and Orissa, which have achieved or are about to achieve the two child goal. But even today these states measure the success of the family planning programme by sterilisation of women, usually undertaken after the demographic damage has been done. A stricter enforcement of the legal age of marriage and much greater stress on spacing methods, in the initial childbearing years, would be infinitely more advantageous than concentrating on sterilising women that have already produced several children. Gujarat has trained some 5,000 ANM’s in inserting IUDs using Zoey models. This has liberated women by acquiring a 10-year protection against pregnancy. With more than 5,00,000 successful insertions done on village women, Gujarat’s Public Health Commissioner Amarjit Singh recites his mantra, “women use this IUD but only if they feel comfortable.”
The third group of States comprises Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. These States will account for hardly 15 per cent of the population growth by 2026 and have all achieved replacement levels of fertility with two children per woman. But here we may be in for some surprises. According to the Registrar General of India (SRS data 2006) Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have higher marital fertility among 15 to 19-year-olds than Rajasthan or even Bihar. Two more south Indian States, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, have nearly twice the proportion of children born to pre-20-year-olds compared to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. West Bengal is another surprise, being exceptionally prolific when it comes to childbirth among 15+ teenagers. This is best illustrated with an example:
Take Andhra Pradesh. Were all births under age 20 to be eliminated, the marital fertility would be reduced by 40 per cent each year, which would translate to over 20 million averted births in one generation of 60 years. But in the absence of efforts to push up the age at first birth, the reproductive process is starting too early and is propelling the population momentum, despite the average number of children being two or less than two per woman.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 was hardly implemented with any seriousness. That appears to be the fate of the new Prevention of Child Marriage Act 2006 also, which has made little dent on the States. Neither family nor society will raise a finger against early marriages, which are invariably followed by the first childbirth within a year. Something else is badly needed to slow the pace of the population momentum.

Remedial steps

First, there should be a Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act with an office of Registrar General of Marriages to coordinate and monitor implementation of the Act countrywide. State Planning Boards should be presented with an annual picture of marriage registrations done and the median age of rural girls at the time of marriage. This information should be disaggregated and published throughout the State to give an idea of registrations done and gaps that continue. The birth of the first child after 19 needs to be incentivised and targeted to lowest wealth quintile, which is not the same thing as the entire BPL stock. The wanted fertility syndrome needs to be countered with state supported insurance for children lost, and employment guarantees for those that live. Concentrating on the lowest wealth quintile in every block, would make a lot of sense, as otherwise the richer among the poor would drain away whatever benefits might accrue.
India’s young population, far from being a boon, is a potential calamity. The births of children in quick succession when the girl is less than 20 is providing an unhealthy impetus to the population momentum besides denying women the right to decide what impacts their lives the most. Only if the economic consequences of the population momentum are understood, would governments take notice. Unfortunately that day is nowhere in sight.

A career civil servant with over 40 years experience, Shailaja Chandra is presently the Executive Director of the Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK), National Population Stabilisation Fund. The views expressed here are her own and do not reflect that of any organisation.