'CRUCIBLE 2006' Brings Together Most Eminent Thought Leaders & Policy Makers at IIM Kozhikode

'CRUCIBLE 2006' Brings Together Most Eminent Thought Leaders & Policy Makers at IIM Kozhikode
Post-event Press-release

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Shri R. R. Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, focused on demographic dividends that India can reap if it can unleash the power of its youthful population. He started his talk by juxtaposing today's economic situation with the pre-independence era, and comparing the self-sufficiency and zooming 160 billion plus forex reserves of today with the poverty and insecurities that were present at the time of Independence.

He then talked of emerging fields like nanotech and the huge amounts of data that need to be processed now, thus, making it necessary for us to greatly strengthen our existing ability with supercomputing, since it will lead to future strategic advantage. He mentioned the visionary bureaucrats in the early 80s who first understood the importance of IT and initiated its adoption in offices and school curricula. Due to that, IT has now entered our genetic make-up, and thus, Indians have excelled in this field.

Shri Shah then talked about the demographic advantage that India has due to the high youth ratio. He said that for the next 25 years, India will have the largest number of young able workforce, and we should leave no stone unturned in utilizing this 25 year window that history is giving us. He noted that developed countries are not liberalizing labor rules, not because they are feeling liberal, but because they need the skilled manpower that we are providing them. He cited a BCG study, that says that there is going to be a shortfall of skilled manpower to the tune of 45 million, and India is going to supply 25 million of that manpower. Mr. Shah stressed that we need to impart those skills to this young workforce that are demanded by the global economy, and have adequate global economy linkages to harness that skill. Thus, he said, the 11th Five-year Plan has Human Resource Development as its core thrust area. Unless we exploit this opportunity, he warned, we could end-up with 25 million unemployed labor rather than globally respected professionals.

He said institutes like the IITs and IIMs are an important part of such skill-upgradation initiatives. Building India into a knowledge society has to start from below, he noted, and thus, the huge initiatives being taken by the current government in increasing the primary education outlay. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan outlay has been successively increased from Rs. 1800 crores to 5000, then 7000, and now 11,000 crores by the Govt, and in next year's budget, it will be Rs. 13,200 crores, he informed the participants. He said that enrolment rates in primary schools are rapidly rising, but a focus should also be maintained on the retention rate, by reducing the number of drop-outs.

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Contributed by -
Malavika Narayan,
Media Cell,
IIM Kozhikode.

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