Vincent Fernandes’ article (India staring at a demographic disaster, THI, August 24) was filled with rhetoric, unsubstantiated claims, and general naysaying about the prospects of a golden future for India. How did he manage to say that India’s education is a mess and its democracy does not measure up to international ratings? The problems with Indian democracy are the generalised problems of any democracy articulated since the times of Socrates and Plato. It is finally a ‘tyranny’ of the majority, where the defeated are always unhappy.
Our primary education was a failure because it did not have a direction and a unity of purpose in building national character. The country made the error of solely concentrating on higher education, ignoring primary education. However, this was not true for higher education. This consequently led to the creation of an unemployed middle class, many of whom migrated to greener pastures. After 1991, the process is now slowing down. Unlike many countries, which depend on foreign degrees to get their validation, India has a strong higher education system in place.
India’s demography is an advantage, a story of immense hope, and can only be a disaster for people whose idea of India is perhaps different. The most important demographic change in the next 20–30 years is that our average age will be in the 30s. Every country goes through three demographic phases: first, a high birth rate and a high death rate; second, a prominent young working and labour force, which can be a backbone for industrialization; and third, an increase in the elderly. The last has happened to most western countries and is soon going to happen to Asian giants like China and South Korea.
Primary education has come back as a big force in the country, and when combined with the demographic change, our country is ready for a huge leap in infrastructure and heavy industrialization. There is everything positive going for our country in education and demographics, and we should perhaps not mess it up. But this story is one of hope rather than dismay and depression, as the article seems to convey.
LETTER PUBLISHED ON THE 27TH OF AUGUST, 2023
THE ARTICLE BY VINCENT FERNANDES
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