The INDIA you may not know

1.      71% or 742 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%

3.      94% drop out rate of children between kindergarten and 10+2

4.      6% or 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 today’s context for the sake of employment generation and National GDP enhancement

5.      72% of all graduates from colleges are Arts graduates. Balance 28% in Science, Commerce, Engineering, I. T., Medical, Law, Management and special subjects

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 3000 vocational education & training (VET) programs in 15,000 modules. In India we have only identified about 51 trades, after 57 years of Independence and hardly 2% of the population goes for formal VET training!

7.      We can get engineers in India but no carpenters, plumbers, drivers, repairmen and other skilled personnel as per international standards! Information Technology, Software or I.T. is the only exception. Perhaps because of 50,000 or more Pvt. I.T. training centers.

8.      I.T. & Software is only 1.5% of the world’s GDP. India ’s present share is about 3%. For rapid economic growth and employment generation we need to concentrate on the balance 97% of the Economy & Enterprise and make it world class

9.      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)*

10. Of all new employment generated, 1% are Government jobs, 2% are in the ‘organized sector’ and the balance 97% in the ‘unorganized sector’

11. Out of our 430 million workforce, 94% work in the ‘unorganized sector’ and about 6 % in the ‘organized sector’

12. 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’, total 2.6% of the population.

13. 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

14. While MP's, MLA's 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 performance

15. 600 million illiterate people, based on the international definition of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic, education up to primary level)

16. The Indian definition of literacy is based on survey of people - “If you can write your name, you are literate”; nobody has seriously ever challenged this definition!

17. 300 million live below the Government of India's definition of Poverty Line of Rs.10 per day! (based on being able to buy enough rice and wheat from the Public Distribution System / Ration Shops, which has food value of 2200 K Cal. per day)

18. 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 don’t we need

more? How about one set of clothes to cover our bodies, a set of chappals for our feet,    some vegetables, milk & fruit, in our diet? How will we cook without any energy and fuel?

19. 450 million* live below the poverty line definition of the World Bank's 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 Bank's new definition of @ US$ 2 per day per person, or US$ 730 per year. (our estimates)*

20. Average Per Capita of an Indian is about US$ 606 per year per person (1.07 billion people and a GDP of US$ 648 billion). Average earning of an Indian is US$ 1.66 per day

21. India has only 1.77% of the World GDP and is 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% 1000 years ago, down from 27% when the British landed in India and down from 3% in 1947.

22. Only 5% of Indians understand English, yet most of the websites of the Government of India, State Governments and Public Institutions are in English!

23. 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

24. India is probably at the bottom of the heap, as far as the human development index is concerned such as infant mortality, women’s health, sicknesses, disease, health, etc.

25. 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

26. Unlike other countries, we have 17 official languages, 4000 dialects, all the religions of the world, and because of low human and economic development, emphasis on SC, ST, Dalits, caste, religion, sect, minorities, regions, etc.

27. 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.

28.  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. SSI’s are 7% of the Indian GDP. 99.7% of all organizations in the world are SME’s. 90% of the Indian GDP is SME. To understand the meaning of ‘E’ in SME (small & medium enterprise).

Under the above circumstances how can we run an efficient country with Good Governance & Effective Administration? We need to first put "Our House in Order", as explained with suitable Action Plans in our 32 page booklet, Transforming INDIA*. The rest will fall in place.

Please also see our website at www.wakeupcall.org  for more details. Copy of – ‘The INDIA you may not know’ is available in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, Urdu and Malayalam

You may download a sample of the contents of the 32 - 36 page booklet, Transforming INDIA, from the website in English, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu & Hindi. Work in other languages is in progress.

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, i Watch, 211, Olympus , Altamount Road , Bombay 400026. Email: krishan@vsnl.com   Website: www.wakeupcall.org Fax: 022-23856782 .
i Watch is a voluntary Citizens Movement for Transforming INDIA. We are watching what is happening in the country and reporting to the citizens, in order to create awareness for the sake of improvement.   <1 million = 10 lacs>   <1 billion = 1000 million = 100 crores>   <US$ 1 = Rs 44 >     <1 billion US $ = Rs. 4,400 crores>