[Answered] Examine how strategic investments in education, skill development, health, nutrition, and family planning can empower India’s youth, enabling them to drive national progress through enhanced choice, control, and capital accumulation.

Introduction

With over 371 million youth, India holds unprecedented demographic power. Strategic investments in education, health, and empowerment are essential to convert this youth bulge into a national development dividend.

India’s Youth: The Demographic Window of Opportunity

1. India, home to the world’s largest youth population, stands at a crucial juncture. As per UNICEF, nearly 371 million individuals in India are aged between 15 and 29 years.
2. This youth bulge, if invested in strategically, can add up to $1 trillion to India’s GDP by 2030, as projected by NITI Aayog and World Bank.
3. But realising this potential demands more than just economic growth—it requires a rights-based, multisectoral approach that equips youth with education, health, skills, and agency.

Key Pillars of Youth Empowerment

1. Education as the Foundation of Agency: Each additional year of secondary education reduces the probability of child marriage by 6% (UNICEF). Programmes like Project Udaan in Rajasthan used scholarships and reproductive health awareness to keep girls in school, preventing 30,000 child marriages and 15,000 teenage pregnancies between 2017 and 2022. Moreover, investing in secondary and tertiary education fosters critical thinking, informed decision-making, and economic mobility. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasizes vocational training, flexible learning, and digital literacy to enhance employability among adolescents.
2. Health, Nutrition, and Reproductive Rights: According to NFHS-5 (2019–21):

• 3% of women aged 20-24 were married before 18.
• 7% of women aged 15–19 were pregnant or had given birth.
• 36% faced unintended pregnancies.

These indicators highlight gaps in reproductive autonomy, further echoed by UNFPA’s State of World Population Report 2025, which reveals 30% of Indian adults face unmet reproductive goals. Initiatives like Advika (Odisha), with over 11,000 child-marriage-free villages, offer adolescent health education, contraception access, and leadership training. Nutrition and mental health must also be part of the equation—stunting, anaemia, and psychological stress undermine both cognitive development and labour productivity.

3. Skill Development and Economic Empowerment: With female labour force participation at just 24% (PLFS, 2023), unlocking economic empowerment is vital. Project Manzil in Rajasthan enabled 28,000 young women to complete skills training, with 16,000 entering dignified employment—many becoming the first skilled earners in their families. Economic independence enhances negotiation power, delays early marriage, and encourages reproductive autonomy. Linking aspirations to dignified livelihoods, especially in gender-inclusive workplaces, is key.

Removing Structural Barriers

1. Social norms, unsafe public spaces, patriarchal mindsets, and insufficient childcare are hurdles to youth empowerment.
2. Conditional cash transfers, behaviour change campaigns, and community mobilisation (as demonstrated in Udaan and Manzil) can break these cycles of disempowerment.
3. The State of World Population 2025 urges nations to focus on universal access to SRH services, education, and childcare support—not only as welfare investments, but as economic strategies.

Conclusion

Youth empowerment is not merely a demographic advantage—it is a strategic imperative. Investing in their health, skills, and autonomy is vital for equitable growth, gender justice, and national prosperity.