Population bloom

Instead of whining about the plus size of our population, let's treat it as an asset and leverage on the strength of our numbers, says Hyderabad Times... The eternal symbol of love and passion - The Taj Mahal - made it to Seven Wonders of the World on a glittery evening at Lisbon, thanks to the millions of votes of Young India. The message was loud and clear for the all the world to hear and see - India is a force to reckon with and you can't just count it out.The 1.1 billion factor that once seemed a bane, is turning to be a boon at every step.
"Our population is an asset. No other country, including China, can boast of a large educated workforce, which is luring various multi-national companies to invest here. The result is, with rising productivity and higher incomes, our economy is entering a boom time," says Rajiv Bakshi, manager, of a channel. Reiterating this, Biju Nair, CFO of a software company , says, "With greener pastures here as a result of KPOs and BPOs, brain drain has suddenly turned a brain gain. For instance , Andhra Pradesh contributed to 30 to 40 per cent of the total brain drain but now lots of people are heading back home. This proves that far more avenues are now opening up because of our relatively large dynamic workforce. With productivity reaching around an alltime high, India has a competitive edge even in the world market too."
Recently, the Bush administration forecast that India would be a major world power soon. Also, it has been hinted that European countries will have a negative growth by 2020, as US will be short of 17 million people of working age (20-50 years), China 10 million, Japan 9 million and Russia 6 million. This was further confirmed by the recent study conducted by an investment bank, Goldman Sachs. According to it, by 2035, India could replace Japan as the world's third-largest economy, valued at $7.8 trillion, behind China and the United States. "And not just this. India has an enviable younger demographic contour. Our population will be in the age of 20- 30 by 2020 where as China - because of their onechild policy - will see an immense rise in ageing population ," says Hari Babu, dean of department of social sciences, HCU.
However, many experts feel that to tap the potential of Young India, adequate measures should be in place. "Education should be made mandatory and considered as tool to explore the skills of youngsters," signs off Rajiv.
Total votes sent from India:
3 CRORE
India's votes are 13.5% of total votes received for the campaign