This was the speech that I delivered as part of my ICSE English assessment.
The Ticking Time-Bomb
In 2022,
India will overtake China to have to world’s largest population. Currently at
1.37 billion, it is projected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. It will be more
than 3 times the population of Europe and 4 times the population of the United
States. Now, the question that bothers everyone in the world is: will our young
and growing population rocket us towards prosperity, or is the sheer size of
our population a ticking time bomb?
India’s
young, energetic and growing population can be a boon our economy, if we take
advantage of it. A young population means a country with educated, talented,
innovative and tech-savvy people. It means a generation of motivated youth who
are willing to take risks and seize every opportunity that comes their way. But
let’s look at the statistics.
In the last
20 years, the size of India’s working age population increased by 300 million!
However, the Indian economy could create only 140 million new jobs, that’s 160
million jobs short. And it doesn’t stop there. By 2040, another 280 million
people will enter the workforce. That means that, in order to prevent an
unemployment crisis, we need to create more than 12 million new jobs every
year. Are we ready for this huge influx?
The good
news is that India has now overtaken China to become the world’s fastest
growing economy. Our growth rate is about 7.5% per annum. But this is not
enough. China has been growing at 10% per annum for the last 40 years. We have
not only started later, but our population is growing at a faster rate.
So, what can
be done to help the Indian economy grow further so that we can provide those
millions and millions of people with jobs? The answer is: investment. We need
lots and lots of investment in the various sectors of our economy. We need
investment to build new factories, repair our roads, expand our metros, build
bullet trains and to fund research. We also need Indian entrepreneurs to start
new companies and businesses. However, India only ranks 130st out of
181 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Ranking. This means that it is
easier and quicker to do business in USA, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia,
China and many other countries. Let me give you an example. It takes 29 month
to register a business in India, but just 1 day in Singapore. Similarly, it
takes 53 days in India to obtain electricity connection, but less than 14 days
in New Zealand.
We need to
improve our ease-of-doing-business ranking by cutting red tapes, reducing the
size of our bureaucracy and curbing corruption. We also need to make the
payment of taxes and registrations completely online. If we do this, then Make
in India will no longer be just a catchy phrase; it will become a reality. If
we can do this, investment will flow into India like the Ganges from the
Himalayas. It will flow through Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It will
flow like the Kaveri not only through Karnataka but also through Tamil Nadu.
And it will shower India with employment, income and economic growth throughout
the year and for generations to come. If we can make India into an investment
friendly and a business-friendly country, then the next Google, Apple or
Microsoft will be started by an Indian in India.
I want to
conclude with a quote from our former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh: “No
force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.” The time has come for
India to become a world economic superpower. However, we can achieve this only
if every student, parent, teacher, and more importantly, every politician
realises that we have miles to go before we sleep and miles to go before we
sleep.