MUMBAI: As the world observed International Youth Day, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warned that more attention needs to be paid to youngsters and that they be included more in decision-making processes to prevent what he predicts as the doomsday scenario of creating “a lost generation”.

“The global economic crisis has hit youth the hardest and many are understandably discouraged by rising inequalities. A large number have no immediate prospects and are disenfranchised from the political, social and development processes in their countries,” he said, warning that “without urgent measures, we risk creating a ‘lost generation’ of squandered talent and dreams.”

The message rings warning bells for India with an estimated 41% percent of its population falling under the category, as per the Census 2001, according to which the youth population stood at 422.3 million, 219 million of which were males.

India has only recently released a draft National Youth Policy which focuses on the 16-30 year age group. It pertinently acknowledges that youngsters aren’t a homogenous group, and identifies young women , youngsters belonging to disadvantaged communities and differentlyabled youngsters as priority target groups for policymaking. One of the key areas it intends to work on is equipping youngsters with employable and entrepreneurial skills. Skill-building should however, go beyond mere lip service and be closely monitored to ensure that training and educational initiatives translate into lowering unemployment.

The ministry also plans to set monitorable targets by way of a Youth Development Index (YDI) which will analyse the areas of health, education, work, amenities as well as youth participation. It is essential that such indicators provide for disaggregated data which acknowledges the inequality among areas as well as groups and do not become blanket indices to falsely flaunt state achievements or make blanket policy prescriptions.

In effect , it is high time for policy to be converted into action to ensure that India uses its demographic dividend to its optimum. That would truly serve the spirit of any such internationally-observed occassions.