INDIA CASE
STUDIES
YOUTHFUL
POPULATION
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 Euromonitor.
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
While the country's young demographic base strengthen an economy — could add 2
is beneficial for India's growth, harnessing its percentage points to the country's annual
full potential is a major challenge, said
growth rate over the next two decades, the
Siddhartha Sanyal, chief India economist at
International Monetary Fund said in 2011.
Barclays.
The male adult literacy rate stands at 75 percent,
The United Nations defines youth as people while female literacy is significantly lower at 51
between ages 15 and 24. By this measure,
percent, according to World Bank data.
there are approximately 240 million youth in
The report India commissioned to recommend
India, about 20% of the population,
changes to sexual assault laws after the deadly
according to preliminary projections from
gangrape of a 23-year-old Delhi student in
the 2011 census. That’s up from 195 million
December highlighted the economic frustration
in 2001.
of young Indian men as a serious issue.
Unemployment & underemployment are
The combination of young men with few
notoriously difficult to measure because as
much as 90% of the Indian labor force works prospects and the frustration of being single is
especially pronounced in North India, where sex
in the informal sector, in activities and
ratios are the most skewed.
occupations that by definition aren’t
recorded in official statistics.
ANTINATAL
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 limitation of family size.
By 1991, India had more than 150,000 public health
facilities through which family planning programs
were offered. Four special family planning projects
were implemented under the Seventh Five-Year Plan
(FY 1985-89).
the All-India 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 beds for tubal ligature operations.
Studies have found that most couples in fact regard
family planning positively. The common fertility
pattern in India diverges from the two-child family.
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
have four living children, of whom two
are sons.
GENDER
INEQUALITY
UNDP report, ranks India 136th out of 186
countries
UNDP study says that only 29% of Indian
women above the age of 15 in 2011 were a
part of the country’s labor force, compared to
80.7% men. In Parliament, only 10.9% of
lawmakers are women.
Only 26.6% women above 25 years received a
secondary education in 2010, compared to
50.4% of men.
Women in poor and less educated households
often marry around the age of 16, but even
women from better off and more educated
households marry around age 19–20. h e
average age at marriage is 19.3 years in
metropolitan cities and is considerably lower
in less developed villages.
Some studies have documented that in
villages in India, women are often discouraged
to seek education. However, recent studies
document remarkable success in efforts to
improve girls' primary education. However,
when it comes to secondary education, girls
are still disadvantaged. Moreover, women's
employment rates are still low and seem to
have further declined in recent years
. In some areas, girls have a surprisingly low
enrolment rate, most notably in Bihar. At the
primary level, it is 37% and it continuously
drops from there (31% in middle school, 25%
at the secondary level and 19% at a college
level).
In 1993, the Usilampatti area of the Tamil
Nadu state featured the death of as many as
the Keshar Nagav slum, men have preferences 196 girl under suspicious circumstances. Older
data is also alarming. In 1984, all but one of
in the holding of the titles for the houses. No
the 8000 abortions that were performed after
joint titles were issued for married couples,
and overall only two women in the whole slum prenatal sex determination in Mumbai
occurred to girls.
owned the title of their house.
GLOBAL
INTERACTIONS –
OUTSOURCING
India’s outsourcing revenue hits $50bn
Cisco Systems, announces a $1.1bn investment in
Bangalore, creating 6,000 jobs.
India's IT sector employs 1.3 million people
directly, and 3 million indirectly - and 40% of the
IT sector is concentrated in Bangalore.
IT industry gained returns of US$ 71.6 billion.
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 to be directly employed in
the IT and BPO Sector.
The related Industry dependent on this are Catering, BPO
training and recruitment, transport vendors, (home pick up
and drops for night shifts being the norm in the industry).
Security agencies, Facilities management companies.
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 secure the
support and resources of the Indian state ahead of other
sectors of the national economy
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, e-mail, 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 thirdlargest 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 in
the world.
The medical journal "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 is the most readily accessible locus of
information for interested parties.
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 HIVinfected 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, especially in north-east India
and certain urban pockets.
According to Michel Sidibé, Executive Director
of UNAIDS, India’s success comes from using
an evidence-informed and human rights-based
approach that is backed by sustained political
leadership and civil society engagement. India
must now strive to achieve universal access to
HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.