THE PATH OF INDIAN YOUTH

POPULATION ACCORDING TO THE AGE GROUPS

According to the website statista.com the age distribution of the people of India in the year 2020 is -

• 1-14 yrs - 26.16% (approximately 36.1 crores)
• 15-64 yrs - 67.27% (approximately 92.6 crores)
• 65+ yrs - 6.57% (approximately 9 crores)

It means that the average age of people of India is around 28 years. These numbers look amazing from the outside but let us dive down deep into the world of Indians and see the reality on how the Indian youth is evolving.

Being a highly populated country (in terms of youth) should be helping an under-developing country like India to grow faster. To a certain level, it has improved but that when compared to the youth population is very less according to growth rate.

Does this mean there is some problem with the Indians ?? Are they not willing to grow faster ?? Don't they want to evolve and become one of the world's strongest power ??

You can decide it yourself after reading this article. Now let us focus on the population called the "youth of India" and how their life is twisted and turned by one of the oldest societies in the world (referring to the Indian society).

THE YOUTH OF INDIA

Let us consider, the age groups from 15-30 yrs old as the youngsters of India. Based on the assumption we have made, around 42 crore youth fall into this category. (by splitting the ages into 3 groups mainly 15-30 yrs - 45%, 31-45 yrs - 30%, 45-64 yrs - 25% and considering the youth is a bit more than the splitting average by the year 2022.)

Among this highly populated youth of 42 crores, let us diversify the youth into literate and illiterate youth. According to the website knoema.com, which says that based on the 2018 census, in India there are around 2 crore youngsters who are illiterate (do not know how to read or write in any of the languages). I am assuming that by 2022 it would have increased to 4 crores due to the huge surge of population in youth and various other reasons. Hence, we are left with around 38 crore youngsters whom we can consider literates.

Let's take a look at the journey of these 38 crore youngsters of India and how will they are educated.

EDUCATED YOUTH OF INDIA

According to the assumptions and estimations made above, there are in total of 38 crore students who are considered literates. Among these students, only 80% (30.4 crores) are educated through schooling and the remaining 20%(7.6 crores) are self-taught (Assuming based on various statistics on google). Among these youth, only 75% (including both categories) attend secondary education exams (SSC) and the remaining 25% (including both categories) start working or start small businesses for their daily family wage.

That leaves us with 28.5 crore youth. Approximately 12% of these students stop studying after their SSC level education which means the remaining will proceed towards their pre-university education also known as "higher secondary education". Approximately 25 crore youngsters continue their journey of education and 15% of them drop out of college before the exams (due to various circumstances) and 15% after the HSC level education. These drop-outs settle in urban towns and cities to grow and earn money to run their families.

Therefore the remaining 21.25 crore students (Approximately half of the 42 crore youth in total) can be considered to join a university for an undergraduate program. According to wikipedia.com as per the 2011 census, only 11.5 crores of the total population(125 crores in 2011) are graduates and based on these statistics we can calculate that the numbers might have increased up to a maximum of 35% by 2021 which would be 24 crore graduates for 140 crore population. That means we can estimate around 11crore youngsters are graduates.

So, in conclusion, there are only 11 crore youngsters between 15-30 yrs age who are graduates and are eligible for major income jobs in India while the remaining youngsters are drop-outs from various levels of the education system due to various circumstances they face in their lives.

Let's observe these talented and most eligible graduates of India and how they are helping India to grow.

THE GRADUATES OF INDIA

Here in India, not every graduate gets a job due to the competition and that's why only 20% (2.2 crores) of graduates and higher degree achievers are employed based on the info in statista.com as per 2021 statistics. This information is including all the branches and industrial sectors in the Indian markets. In total, the unemployment rate in India as of Dec 2021 is 5.3 crores according to economic times news. The remaining 3.5 crores are people who go abroad for studies (or) start small businesses (or) compromise and do some small job for their bread and butter.

In conclusion, the future of approximately 5-8 crore is secure considering the assumptions and successful businesses by the dropouts and other categories. Now, out of these secured future youth, more than 3 crore people are migrating to other countries and settling down there .

Irrespective of their professions why are people ready to leave their country and go work in other countries as bartenders, plumbers, cleaning staff, maintenance staff etc. ??? People who have talent are going to work abroad for multinational companies but they never return, why ???

SOCIETAL PRESSURE ON THE INDIAN YOUTH

The most astonishing aspect that drives the youth of India very mad is the societal pressure. Even expressing such a tremendous amount of burden that an Indian child bears due to the society is not easy to frame in words.

A lot of Indian parents support their children to go abroad and settle just because they think society will respect them and take it as a matter of pride but the harsh reality is that the children suffer due to such faulty support. Even if the child wants to return also he/she is struck there either without money or due to other commitments.

One question I always wanted to ask such parents.

Do you even know what your child would do going there?? Do you realize what type of burden you put on your child just for your pride ?? If going to another country and doing a job such as a bartender, plumber, cleaning staff, maintenance staff etc. is the pride for you, then what is staying under your guidance and learning how to face society is ??

WHY INDIANS ARE GOING ABROAD TO STUDY?

There might be many reasons but the main reasons are as follows -

• due to high competition
• due to poor quality of education
• due to less exposure
• due to societal pressure
• due to low employment opportunities.
• due to lower salaries
• due to other circumstances
• due to shortage of seats in colleges in various sectors.

Is this the path of the young India ?

If this is the case then how do you think the Indian scenario will be by 2025 ???

how will India change its methods to mold the youth towards successful careers ??

Now is the time to think about this issue !!

ALL THE BEST !!!

-Pranay Bhonagiri