The India you may not know
1. 71% or 770 million people are below 35 years of age. Indians
are young.
2. 29 million people are born every year, 10 million die per
year, population increase 1.8% per year.
3. 90% to 94% drop out rate of children (including those who
never went to school) between kindergarten and class
10+2. India has 95 lac schools, China has 180 lacs.
4. 6% are the ones that cross the 10+2 stage, (Educational
Line of Control) which is our so called educated youth, go
in for a regular college degree which may not be very
relevant in todays context for the sake of employment
generation and National GDP enhancement.
5. 72% of all graduates from the 15,600 colleges are Arts
graduates. Balance 28% in Science, Commerce,
Engineering, I.T., Medical, Law, Management and special
subjects. India has 372 universities, China has 900.
6. While 95% of the world youth between 15 to 35 years of age
learn a vocation, a skill or a trade, with a choice of 2,500
vocational education and training (VET) programs, we in
India have only identified about 71 trades, after 58 years of
Independence and hardly 2% of the population goes for
formal VET training! India has 11,000 ITI's and VET schools,
China has 500,000 Sr. Sec. VET schools.
7. We can get engineers and MBAs in India but no carpenters,
plumbers, drivers, repairmen and other skilled personnel as
per international standards!
8. Information Technology, Software or I.T. is the only
exception, possibly due to 50,000 or more private I.T.
training centers spread across the country.
9. I.T. & Software is only 1.5% of the worlds GDP. Indias
present share is about 5%. For rapid economic growth and
employment generation we need to concentrate on the
balance 95% of the Economy & Enterprise and make it
world class.
10. 300* million unemployed / employable age* and only 45
million have actually registered with employment offices with
little or no hope of getting employment (our estimates)*.
11. Of all new employment generated, 1% are Government jobs,
2% are in the organized sector and the balance 97% in the
unorganized sector
12. Out of our 430 million workforce, 94% work in the
unorganized sector and about 6% in the organized sector.
13. 1.7% of the entire population, viz. 18 million people work for
the Central & State Government; another 9 million work in
the private organized sector, a total of 2.6% of the
population.
14. All the Labour Laws are made to protect, at any cost, the
above 2.6% of the Indian population. Article 311 of the Indian
constitution needs revision since it over-protects employees
of the Government even at a cost to the Nation.
15. While MPs, MLAs and Municipal Councilors and the village
Panchayats, can only be elected for a maximum of 5 years,
the officials, babus, and government employees enjoy life
long benefits of employment, in spite of their performance.
16. 600 million illiterate people, based on the international
definition of the 3R's (reading, writing and arithmetic,
education up to primary level or Class 5th). (our esitimates)
as per Goverment of India is 63% literate. China is 93%
literate.
17. The Indian definition of literacy is based on survey of
peopleIf you can write your name, you are literate;
nobody has seriously ever challenged this definition!
18. 260 million live below the Government of Indias definition of
the Poverty Line of Rs.11(Rural) to Rs 14(Urban) per day!
(based on being able to buy enough rice and wheat from the
Public Distribution System / Ration Shops, which has food
value of 2,200 K calories per day).
19. Nobody has ever challenged this definition of Poverty
Line. How can one expect people to live with a few kilos of
raw uncooked wheat or rice? As human beings dont we
need more? How about one set of clothes to cover our
bodies, a set of chappals for our feet, some vegetables, milk
and fruit, in our diet? How will we cook without any energy
and fuel?
This is my India !
20. 450 million* live below the poverty line definition of the
World Banks old definition of @ US$ 1 per day per person,
or US$ 365 per year. 700 million* people below the poverty
line definition of the World Banks new definition of @ US$
2 per day per person, or US$ 730 per year. (our estimates)*
21. Average Per Capita of an Indian is about US$ 600 per year
per person (1.07 billion people and a GDP of US$ 648
billion). The average earning of an Indian is US$ 1.65 per
day.
22. India has only 1.72% of the World GDP and has 17% of the
world population. Demands are high but buying power is low.
Hence we will need to increase our export related activities
by 10 times, as the foreign markets are 60 times bigger
than the Indian market. Our share of world markets or foreign
trade is 0.8%, down from 33% 1,000 years ago, down from
27% when the British landed in India and down from 3% in
1947.
23. Only 5% of Indians understand English, yet most of the
websites of the Government of India, State Governments and
Public Institutions are in English!
24. While English is a language used in countries which account
for about 40% of the world GDP, viz., USA + UK + old British
Colonies, yet in India while we talk of Globalization, we are
not serious to learn the other languages of the world, eg.,
Japanese, German etc, unlike the Chinese youth who are
doing otherwise.
25. India is probably at the bottom of the heap, as far as the
human development index is concerned such as infant
mortality, child care, malnutrition, womens health, disease,
health, clean water, etc.
26. Democracy is, to the people, for the people, by the people. If
we have to succeed, the Citizen has to get involved and
participate in Governance.
27. Unlike other countries, we have 18 official languages,
4,000 dialects, all the religions of the world, and because of
low human and economic development, emphasis on SC,
ST, Dalits, caste, religion, sect, minorities, region, ethnic
groups, etc.
28. Employment generation is restricted due to existing
Policies which do not encourage Labour Intensive
enterprises. Relevant Labour Reforms in line with prevailing
practices in other countries of Asia are required for a level
playing field for Indian organizations.
29. The size of Enterprises cannot be decided by officials in the
Central Government. They are decided by technology,
process, international market forces and competitive
pressures. Reservation for Small Scale Industry, SSI, needs
to be scrapped and SME's should be encouraged. SSIs are
7% of the Indian GDP. 99.7% of all organizations in the
world are SMEs. 90% of the Indian GDP are SMEs. We
need to understand the meaning of E in SME (small &
medium enterprise).
30. As per
:: Lok Satta Party - New Politics for a New Generation ::, about Rs. 2200 crores are spent
every day, at the Centre and State level, both on revenue as
well as capital account in order to Govern INDIA. To improve
Governance we need to insure +95% of Literacy, a large
number of active Citizen Groups and maximum use of The
Right to Information Act!
Under the above circumstances how can we run an efficient country
with Good Governance and Effective Administration? We need to first put Our House in Order, with suitable Action Plans, as explained in our 48 page booklet, Transforming INDIA. The rest will fall into place. Transforming INDIA is available at Rs. 50 per copy. Please send demand drafts payable at Mumbai, to i Watch, at the address mentioned below.
Please also see our website at India Watch :: Wakeup call for India for more details.
Copies of The India you may not know are available in English, Hindi,
Gujurati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada,
Punjabi, Urdu and Malayalam.
You may download a sample of the contents of our 48 page booklet,
Transforming INDIA, from the website in English, Hindi, Marathi,
Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Punjabi,
Urdu and Malayalam.
We also interact with Central Government ministries such as HRD,
Finance, Planning, Labour, nearly 10 State governments and business
associations such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, PHDCC&I and other
chambers of commerce. Compiled, printed and published by Krishan Khanna for i Watch, 211, Olympus, Altamount Road, Bombay 400026. Email: krishan@vwakeupcall.org Site: India Watch :: Wakeup call for India Fax: +91 22 2385 6782
http://superindian.net/Articles/SI/The India you may not know.pdf