India overtakes China, becomes most populous nation with 142.9 crore people
- April 25, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
India overtakes China, becomes most populous nation with 142.9 crore people
Subject : Geography
Context: India has overtaken China as the most populous nation in the world, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund. The report says 68 per cent of India’s population is in the 15-64 age group.
Demographic dividend:
What is demographic dividend?
Demographic dividend means that the country’s dependency ratio, as measured by the share of the young and the elderly as a fraction of the population, will come down more sharply in the coming decades. Increase in the share of working age population means more workers in the productive age groups that will add to the total output, generate more savings, accrue more capital per worker, and all these leading to higher economic growth.
Issues:-in reaping the demographic dividend
- Learning loss due to the COVID pandemic
- Labour market imbalances –due to shortage skill skilled labour and skill mismatch.. In 2019-20, only 73 million of India’s 542 million strong workforce received any form of vocational training (whether formal or informal).
- The proportion of formally skilled workers as a percentage of total workforce stands at 24 per cent in China, 52 percent in USA, 68 per cent in UK and 80 per cent in Japan, against a paltry 3 per cent in India.
Suggestions:
- The report suggests that youth may be offered skill vouchers and scholarships which can be linked to the national skill qualification framework. Thus leading to a transformation from supply-based to demand-based skill system.
- The government should also consider setting up multi skill training institutes in MSME clusters to impart skills based on local demand.
- Corporate investment in employee education and training should continue to play a critical role to meet the demand for high-skilled workers. Thus, greater government-industry collaboration holds the key for skilling the burgeoning workforce.
Concept:
Definition
According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), demographic dividend means, “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”.
With fewer births each year, a country’s working-age population grows larger relative to the young dependent population. With more people in the labor force and fewer children to support, a country has a window of opportunity for economic growth if the right social and economic investments and policies are made in health, education, governance, and the economy.
Causes-Change in population structure occur due to
- Falling birth rate
- Lower fertility rate-As fertility declines, the share of the young population falls and if this decline is rapid, the increase in the population of working ages is substantial, yielding the ‘demographic dividend’.
- Increased longevity
Falling birth rate and lower fertility rate will contribute to a reduction in expenditure; increased longevity will lead to an increase in the size of the working-age population.
Background for the development of basic structure doctrine
- Since the adoption of Indian Constitution, debates have started regarding the power of the Parliament to amend key provisions of the Constitution.
- In the early years of Independence, the Supreme Court conceded absolute power to Parliament in amending the Constitution, as was seen in the verdicts in Shankari Prasad case (1951) and Sajjan Singh case (1965). • In both the cases the court had ruled that the term “law” in Article 13 must be taken to mean rules or regulations made in exercise of ordinary legislative power and not amendments to the Constitution made in exercise of constituent power under Article 368. • This means Parliament had the power to amend any part of the constitution including Fundamental rights. • Article 13(2) reads, “The State shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the right conferred by this Part (PartIII) and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of contravention, be void.” • However, in the Golaknath case (1967), the Supreme Court held that Parliament could not amend Fundamental Rights, and this power would be only with a Constituent Assembly. • The Court held that an amendment under Article 368 is “law” within the meaning of Article 13 of the Constitution and therefore, if an amendment “takes away or abridges” a Fundamental Right conferred by Part III, it is void. • To get over the judgments of the Supreme Court in the Golaknath case (1967), RC Cooper case (1970), and MadhavraoScindia case (1970), the then government headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had enacted major amendments to the Constitution (the 24th, 25th, 26th and 29th). • All the four amendments brought by the government were challenged in the Kesavananda Bharati case.
A 13-judge Bench was set up by the Supreme Court, the biggest so far, and the case was heard over 68 working days spread over six months.
- The case was primarily about the extent of Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.
- First, the court was reviewing a 1967 decision in Golaknath v State of Punjab which, had ruled that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights.
- Second, the court was deciding the constitutional validity of several other amendments.
- The executive vs judiciary manoeuvres displayed in the amendments ended with the KesavanandaBharati case, in which the court had to settle these issues conclusively.
- In its majority ruling, the court held that fundamental rights cannot be taken away by amending them. While the court said that Parliament had vast powers to amend the Constitution, it drew the line by observing that certain parts are so inherent and intrinsic to the Constitution that even Parliament cannot touch it.
- The origins of the basic structure doctrine are found in the German Constitution which, after the Nazi regime, was amended to protect some basic laws. The original Weimar Constitution, which gave Parliament to amend the Constitution with a two-thirds majority, was in fact used by Hitler to his advantage to made radical changes. Learning from that experience, the new German Constitution introduced substantive limits on Parliament’s powers to amend certain parts of the Constitution which it considered ‘basic law’.
- In India, the basic structure doctrine has formed the bedrock of judicial review of all laws passed by Parliament.
- The present position is that the Parliament under Article 368 can amend any part of the Constitution including the Fundamental Rights but without affecting the basic structure of the Constitution.
- However, the Supreme Court is yet to define or clarify as to what constitutes the basic structure of the Constitution. From the various judgments, the following have emerged as basic features of the Constitution or elements / components / ingredients of the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution:
- Supremacy of the Constitution
- Sovereign, democratic and republican nature of the Indian polity
- Secular character of the Constitution
- Separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary
- Federal character of the Constitution
- Unity and integrity of the nation
- Welfare state (socio-economic justice)
- Judicial review
- Freedom and dignity of the individual
- Parliamentary system
- Rule of law
- Harmony and balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
- Principle of equality
- Free and fair elections
- Independence of Judiciary
- Limited power of Parliament to amend the Constitution
- Effective access to justice
- Principle of reasonableness
- Powers of the Supreme Court under Articles 32, 136, 141 and 142