TAKING AN EQUITY APPROACH TO REALISE YOUTH POPULATION DIVIDEND IN INDIA

An ‘equity approach’ distinguishes equity and equality importantly. As we are concerned here about supporting young people deal with their growing-up challenges and realise their full potential, I would like to further focus on ‘social and economic equity’ that can activate agency and participation of all young people in our society.

The best pictorial representation of the equity approach is in this picture of children watching a match distinguishing the reality-equality-equity-justice paradigms. Equity approach has fairness and justice at its core and takes into account the contextual inequalities diverse groups of youth face in terms of -caste, ethnic or religious identity, gender, class, (dis)ability, geographic location, sexual orientation and any other that impact the well-being and opportunities in front of a young person. These being structural and systemic, equity measures also need to be structural building relevant public institutions, effective public goods and services, adequate budget allocations and public education to create an enabling environment.

37 crore young people in the age group of 15 to 19 years are recognised as youth by the Govt of India and constitute 27% of our population. Of this, about 25% belong to historically disadvantaged Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, about 19% belong to religious minority. The proportion of marginalised young people increase considerably when we include youth with disability, LGBTQIA+ youth, young people from the nomadic and de-notified communities, migrant youth, youth living in slums or on streets, those living in areas affected by left wing extremism, conflict or disasters. Young women from these communities face additional challenges of violence and patriarchal norms. The complexity of marginalisation and disadvantages are further nuanced by the intersections of the various vectors.

In our aspiration to build a harmonious society, providing services and resources in equal measures to all young people is not strategic as young people are not equal in their current status. We need a well-modulated, nuanced and robust system to incorporate the diversity, complexity and inequality while building equity measures. The federal and decentralised legislatures and administrative systems in our country provide ample mechanisms to build relevant equity measures. The task however is daunting and needs urgent and immediate attention to not let our youth population dividend dive into a disaster.

The ASER 2023 reports on how un-prepared we are to benefit from the youth population dividend.

· As young people increase in age, a large majority of them are not enrolled in education, 32.6% of 18 years old are not enrolled compared to 3.9% of 14 years old.

· Among those enrolled, 55.7% are enrolled in Arts/Humanities, 31.7% in STEM and 9.4% in commerce. 28.1% females are enrolled in STEM compared to 36.3% males.

· Among the 14-18 years old, only 57.3% can read sentences in English, 73.5% of those who can read can tell their meaning. Males do better than females in English reading and comprehension.

· In terms of everyday calculations, 85% of youth can measure length from 0 cm, but only 39% can do so when the starting point changes. Only 50% perform common calculations.  

· Additionally, for financial budgeting, among youths capable of at least subtraction, 60% handle budgeting, 37% apply discounts, and only 10% calculate loan repayments. Males consistently outperform females in all financial tasks, and division proficiency correlates with task completion.

· Of those who can use smart phones - 43.7% of males are likely to have their own smart phones compared to 19.8% of females.

Social equity is about taking tangible action to ensure social and economic inclusion of all individuals with a particular focus on underserved communities and groups with specific vulnerabilities. The Constitution of India has included many exemplary equity measures to address the historical disadvantage faced by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. In addition, it also includes equity measures for religions minority communities. These were meant to dismantle the existing exclusions, privileges and hierarchy in the caste based social structure:

· Art 17 prohibiting untouchability practices and making them punishable offences (which hitherto were considered social and cultural practices).

· Article 15 while espousing non-discrimination in the public education system, allowed states to make special provisions for children from SC and ST and other educationally backward communities. The translation of these special provisions is seen seat reservation, scholarships, hostels and residential schools. Moving forward, the RTE Act provides for 25% seat reservation for children from disadvantaged and economically weaker sections in private unaided schools.

· Article 16 provides for reservation in employment in public institutions to SC and ST communities, which have been further amended to include others.

· Reservation of seats in local governments, state and union legislatures are equity measures to promote participation and decision making.

Many Rights legislations also include equity measures to address the specific challenges faced by marginalised communities – be it the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, The Forest Rights Act, POCSO, legislations related to violence against women in domestic and work places, RTE to name some. The Govt of India has also set up commissions and specialized agencies to oversee the framing and implementation of the equity measures for marginalised communities. Population proportion budget allocations under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe plans facilitate the implementation of the equity measures.     

It is however, dismal to see the lack of foresight and commitment and poor implementation of the planned measures. Rather than enhancing and expanding equity measures random withdrawal of important measures is regularly seen.

In academic year 2022-23, govt cut pre-matric scholarship to SC, ST, OBC and Minority children in classes 1 to 8 citing the Right to Education provides free and compulsory education till class 8. The national campaign on Dalit human rights consistently reports mandated funds under SC and ST plans being allocated to meet institutional costs and schemes that do not directly benefit individual members or community. According to data tabled in parliament, between 2019-2022, funds for 6 scholarship schemes for religious minorities was cut down by 12.5% and beneficiaries declined by 7%.  The unequal access, outcomes, quality and processes of public institutions and goods and services has to acknowledge that administrators and policy makers are culpable in systemic injustices faced by marginalised communities.

The absence of adequate and effective disaggregated data on the poor development indicators and their causative reasons further hamper creating and implementing equity measures. The govt decision to omit disability related data in the NFHS 6th round is an instance which will make them further invisible. The initiative of the UN Statistical Commission to promote citizen/community generated data where citizens and communities are trained and encouraged to gather data at the community level can be an important tool to address data gaps in planning and monitoring policies and provisions.  

A short window remains for India to realise the youth population dividend. The proportion of youth to total population reached it peak of 27.9% in 2016 and is on its downward trend to reach 22.7% by year 2036. Even now, states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have started on their downward trend. 52% of youth live in poor states of Bihar, UP, MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and have the greatest potential to create the dividend. It however requires a ‘whole of society approach’ where the government, private sector, UN agencies and civil society come together to forge the way ahead in multi-dimensional indicators and multiple sectors. The youth of India, particularly those from marginalised sections are invested in the process and hod the potential.

References:

1. Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023: Beyond Basics

2. Promise and Reality: A citizens review of 4+ years under the NDA II government, 2019-23

3. Youth in India, 2022; Ministry of Statistics and Progamme Implementation, Govt of India

 Annie Namala,

Ex Director, Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion (CSEI)