AU observes World Population Day

Silchar: To mark World Population Day on Monday, the department of economics of Assam University (AU), Silchar, organized a symposium on the theme 'Demographic Dividend - its Recent Trends'.

The event began with an address by Sagarika Dey, assistant professor of economics, who focussed on the conceptual issue of demographic dividend and its role in realizing higher levels of economic growth.

AU vice-chancellor Dilip Chandra Nath, who was the chief guest at the event, spoke on the importance of estimating the economy's manpower need so that the fruits of demographic dividend could be realized. He highlighted the issues of total fertility rate, age distribution of population and importance of stable population for the economic development of a country.

Niranjan Roy, head of the department, also spoke on the qualitative aspects of demographic dividend. He said the mere quantity of demographic dividend could not bring higher economic growth unless its quality improved and was made sustainable. Roy also proposed opening a centre for population studies in AU.

The faculty members of various departments, non-teaching staff, and many research scholars and students participated in the symposium.