INDIA

CASE
STUDIES

YOUTHFU
L
POPULATI
ON

the median age of India's population

as a whole is 28, significantly lower
than that of regional peers China
and Japan, at 37.6 and 44.4,
respectively, according to data from
global
market
research
firm
While the
country's
young
Euromonitor.
demographic base is beneficial for

India's workforce, those between 15

and 64, is expected to rise from almost
64 percent of its population in 2009 to
67 percent in 2020.
India's "demographic dividend" the
window of opportunity that a large
workforce creates to strengthen an
economy could add 2 percentage
India's growth, harnessing its full
points to the country's annual growth
potential is a major challenge, said
rate over the next two decades, the
Siddhartha Sanyal, chief India
International Monetary Fund said in
The male adult literacy rate stands at
economist
at
Barclays.
The United Nations defines youth as 2011.
75 percent, while female literacy is
people between ages 15 and 24. By significantly lower at 51 percent,
this measure, there are
according to World Bank data.
The report India commissioned to
approximately 240 million youth in
recommend changes to sexual assault
India, about 20% of the population,
according to preliminary projections laws after the deadly gangrape of a 23year-old Delhi student in December
from the 2011 census. Thats up
highlighted the economic frustration of
from 195 million in 2001.
Unemployment & underemployment young Indian men as a serious issue.
The combination of young men with
are notoriously difficult to measure
few prospects and the frustration of
because as much as 90% of the
being single is especially pronounced in
Indian labor force works in the
North India, where sex ratios are the
informal sector, in activities and
occupations that by definition arent most skewed.

ANTINATA
L POLICY

The overriding objective of economic and

social development is to improve the
quality of lives that people lead, to
enhance their well-being, and to provide
them with opportunities and choices to
become
productive
assets
in society.
In the 1950s,
existing
hospitals
and health
care facilities made birth control
information available, but there was no
aggressive effort to encourage the use of
contraceptives
and more
limitation
family
By 1991, India had
thanof
150,000
size.
public health facilities through which
family planning programs were offered.
Four special family planning projects were
implemented under the Seventh Five-Year
PlanAll-India
(FY 1985-89).
the
Hospitals Post-partum
Programme at district- and subdistrict-level
hospitals. Another program involved the
reorganization of primary health care
facilities in urban slum areas, while
another project reserved a specified
number
of hospital
for tubal
ligature
Studies have
found beds
that most
couples
in
operations.
fact regard family planning positively. The
common fertility pattern in India diverges

Women continue to marry

young; in the mid-1990s, they
average just over eighteen
years of age at marriage. When
women choose to be sterilized,
financial inducements, although
helpful, are not the principal
incentives. On average, those
accepting sterilization already

GENDER
INEQUAL
ITY

UNDP report, ranks India 136th out of

186 countries

Some studies have documented that

in villages in India, women are often
discouraged to seek education.
UNDP study says that only 29% of
Indian women above the age of 15 in However, recent studies document
remarkable success in efforts to
2011 were a part of the countrys
labor force, compared to 80.7% men. improve girls' primary education.
However, when it comes to
In Parliament, only 10.9% of
secondary education, girls are still
lawmakers are women.
Only 26.6% women above 25 years
disadvantaged. Moreover, women's
received a secondary education in
employment rates are still low and
. In some areas, girls have a
2010, compared to 50.4% of men.
seem to have further declined in
surprisingly low enrolment rate, most
recent years
Women in poor and less educated
notably in Bihar. At the primary level,
households often marry around the
it is 37% and it continuously drops
age of 16, but even women from
from there (31% in middle school,
better off and more educated
25% at the secondary level and 19%
households marry around age 1920. at a college level).
h e average age at marriage is 19.3
In 1993, the Usilampatti area of the
years in metropolitan cities and is
Tamil Nadu state featured the death
considerably lower in less developed of as many as 196 girl under
the Keshar Nagav slum, men have
villages.
preferences in the holding of the titles suspicious circumstances. Older data
is also alarming. In 1984, all but one
for the houses. No joint titles were
of the 8000 abortions that were
issued for married couples, and
overall only two women in the whole performed after prenatal sex
determination in Mumbai occurred to
slum owned the title of their house.

GLOBAL
INTERACTIO
NS
OUTSOURCIN
G

Indias outsourcing revenue hits $50bn

Cisco Systems, announces a $1.1bn
investment in Bangalore, creating 6,000
jobs.
As of 2012, around 2.8 million people work
in outsourcing sector. Annual revenues are
around $11 billion, around 1% of GDP.
Around 2.5 million people graduate in
India every year. Wages are rising by 10-15
percent as a result of skill shortage.
The industry has been growing rapidly. It
grew at a rate of 38% over 2005. For the
FY06 financial year the projections is of
US$7.2 billion worth of services provided
by this industry. The base in terms of
headcount being roughly 400,000 people
directly employed in this Industry. The
global BPO Industry is estimated to be
worth 120-150 billion dollars, of this the
offshore BPO is estimated to be some
US$11.4 billion. India thus has some 5-6%
share of the total Industry, but a
commanding 63% share of the offshore
component. The U.S $7.2 billion also
represents some 20% of the IT and BPO
Industry which is in total expected to have
revenues worth US$36 billion for 2006. The
headcount at 400,000 is some 40% of the
approximate one million workers estimated

India's IT sector employs 1.3 million

people directly, and 3 million indirectly
- and 40% of the IT sector is
concentrated in Bangalore.
IT industry gained returns of US$ 71.6
billion.

The first criticism concerns the damaging

psychological effects on Indian call-center
employees who are expected to ape the
Western employees they have replaced in
terms of accents, slang and even names. It
has been claimed that this influence, which
far exceeds the industry's economic
contribution, has allowed the industry to

GLOBAL
INTERACTIO
NS: DIGITAL
DIVIDE

India might have the world's second

highest number of Facebook users ,
but according to the Internet and
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI),
Internet penetration across the
entire population is still below 10
percent .
Computers (PCs) penetration is
under 10% (vs. +80% in North
America or UK) and in rural India
this is a scaring sub 1%
Using an Internet Society
Community Grant of US $9,000,
ISOC Bangalore is training everyone
from tailors and glass cutters to
cotton weavers and furniture
makers to download pictures, email, video conference, instant
message, use Excel and Word, as
well as promote their products on
Facebook and Twitter.

IAMAI's research has found that

while 20 percent of urban Indians
are connected, only three percent of
rural Indians are .
"Power is a serious concern in
remote areas, but we try to make
sure that the supplying nodes are
solar-enabled. Having said that even
battery back-up is good enough as
nobody in remote areas wants a
24/7 service," Manzar

FOOD &
HEALTH:
HIV/AIDS

India has an HIV/AIDS population of

approximately 1.4-1.6 million
people.
Despite being home to the world's
third-largest population suffering
from HIV/AIDS (with South Africa
and Nigeria having more), the AIDS
prevalence rate in India is lower
than in many other countries. In
2007, India's AIDS prevalence rate
stood at approximately 0.30%the
89th
highest journal
in the world.
The medical
"The Lancet" in
(2006) reported an approximately
30% decline in HIV infections
among young women aged 15 to 24
years attending prenatal clinics in
selected southern states of India
from 2000 to 2004. The authors
cautiously attribute observed
declines to increased condom use
by men who visit commercial sex
workers. Some efforts have been
made to tailor educational literature
to those with low literacy levels,
mainly through local libraries as this

According to the United Nations

2011 AIDS report, there has been a
50% decline in the number of new
HIV infections in the last 10 years in
India
he US$2.5 billion National AIDS
Control Plan III was set up by India in
2007 and received support from
UNAIDS[6] The main factors which
have contributed to India's large
HIV-infected population are
extensive labor migration and low
literacy levels in certain rural areas
resulting in lack of awareness and
gender disparity. The Government of
India has also raised concerns about
the role of intravenous drug use and
prostitution in spreading AIDS,
According
Michel Sidib,
Executive
especially to
in north-east
India
and
Director
of UNAIDS,
Indias success
certain urban
pockets.
comes from using an evidenceinformed and human rights-based
approach that is backed by sustained
political leadership and civil society
engagement. India must now strive to