Demographic fact has potential to be the biggest competitive
advantage of India in coming years-. Shashi Tharoor
While addressing CII Gen Next Workforce Summit 2013 “Capability Building for Transformation and Innovation” on 23 August 2013 in New Delhi, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, said that there is an urgent need to mainstream vocational education, so that a verifiable system of certification can be established for training in skills that the society finds valuable, as also to ensure that these skills are taught to willing learners by master craftsmen – who may otherwise teach only a handful of apprentices in their whole lives, surely a failure to apply their experience and talents to scale! It is a shame, for instance, that in a country of 1.2 billion people we have a shortage of certified masons.
Dr Tharoor expressed optimism that this Summit will provide a useful platform to develop good understanding about the aspirations of this new generation of professionals that will take India through these exciting and troublesome times.
Referring to prediction by International Labour Organisation (ILO) that by 2020, India will have 116 million workers in the age bracket of 20 to 24 years, as compared to China’s 94 million. It is further estimated that the average age in India by the year 2020 will be 29 years as against 40 years in the USA, 46 years in Europe and 47 years in Japan. In fact, in 20 years the labour force in the industrialised world will decline by 4%, in China by 5%, while in India it will increase by 32%. According to Dr Tharoor, this demographic fact has the potential to be the biggest competitive advantage of India in the years to come. He also stated that this trend is significant because what matters in the long run is not merely the size of the population, but its age structure. By 2020 some 64% of our population will be of working age, between 15 and 59 years of age.
Further, Dr Tharoor stated that “we can only do so if we educate and train these people to take advantage of the opportunities the 21st century offers us”. Drawing attention towards emerging new courses, Dr Tharoor said that these courses are producing graduates who are trained with a different thought process and work ethics. Emphasizing upon the role of social media forums, Dr Tharoor said that the need to work for change and to voice opinions has become an integral characteristic of this generation.
In his welcome address, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry, stressed that the workforce is a critical stakeholder to an organization’s growth and prosperity and as the complexion of India’s workforce grows younger, understanding and appreciating the upcoming generation for better engagement will be imperative for organisations to have sustainable growth and value creation for the economy.
Mr Anil Sachdev, Chairman, CII National Committee on Human Resource and Founder, School of Inspired Leadership urged the need for all of us to identify one focus area of work which is beneficial to society and take responsibilities of our actions. He also stressed on the need of valuing the young generation and learning to harness their talent is a very important part of the role of leaders of today.
“Globalization has played an important role in the generation of employment in India. This has also enabled in creation of a newer set of generation, who are technologically savvy, well informed and connected, I would probably call them “I” generation i.e. internet generation” said Mr Ashank Desai, Co-Chair, CII National Committee on Human Resource and Founder, Mastek Ltd., emphasizing the role of technology in shaping growth of new generation.