To obtain full benefits of the demographic dividend, what should India do?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Promoting skill development
The demographic dividend comes from having a large working-age population. It turns into real economic gain only if those workers are productive and employable. Skill development is the policy that does this, and India's National Policy on Skill Development (2009) names skilling as the way to harness the dividend.
- ✓ (a) The 2009 National Policy on Skill Development says that harnessing the demographic dividend through appropriate skill development efforts offers inclusion and productivity. A large workforce without skills cannot deliver the benefit.
- ✗ (b) Social security schemes protect people against risks such as old age and illness. They do not by themselves make the working-age population more productive or employable.
- ✗ (c) Lower infant mortality is a health gain. It does not decide whether today's working-age population finds productive work.
- ✗ (d) Privatising higher education is not a stated route to the dividend. The policy focus is on building skills and employability across the whole workforce.
Remember · The demographic dividend is not automatic, and the window does not last forever. It must be consciously exploited through policy, mainly skilling and employment, to turn a large working-age population into growth.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- National Policy on Skill Development, March 2009 (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) ↗ “Harnessing the demographic dividend through appropriate skill development efforts would provide an opportunity to achieve inclusion and productivity within the country and also a reduction in the global skill shortages.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Indian Society, Chapter 2 “But there is nothing automatic about this advantage – it needs to be consciously exploited through appropriate policies”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2013, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
