In the demographic dividend conversation, India must include its villages

Indian Express

5 days ago

Written by Aliva Das
India's villages are not the margins, they are the makers of our demographic future. With over 65 per cent of our population still living in rural areas, any conversation on population development must begin here. The idea of 'population justice', ensuring fairness and rights in how we understand and respond to demographic realities, demands that we listen to rural communities not as data points but as co-authors of India's next chapter.
This year's World Population Day theme, empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world, is especially relevant. With 1.8 billion young people globally, the largest cohort in human history, India alone accounts for around 356 million in that age group (roughly 20 per cent share), making it the world's largest youth population. Nearly 40 per cent of India's own population is under 25 (over 65 per cent resides in rural India), significantly higher than many other countries.
In our work across tribal and remote geographies, we meet young women who are returning to education through bridge programmes, stepping up as gender champions. Village institutions like panchayats are starting to talk about menstrual health, migration safety, and digital skilling. These changes are subtle but compelling. Yet, rural young people face systemic gaps.
Gendered roles and norms continue to limit opportunities, girls have to bear the burden of care-giving from a young age, mobility is restricted, and decision-making spaces rarely include young women's voices. Similarly, they face layered barriers to economic participation, like limited access to assets and also a lack of childcare. Climate change has added new uncertainties, from crop failures to displacement, especially for rural workers and marginal farmers. Despite the digital push, rural communities still struggle with digital literacy, especially among women and the elderly.
These are not peripheral issues. They are central to any policy that hopes to be future-ready and people-first. We often hear of India's 'demographic dividend' but the real dividend lies in dignity, not just in numbers. When a young person completes their education, when a farmer adapts to climate risks through locality compacts, and when a village includes youth voices in its planning, it signals more than local progress. It reflects the renewal of the nation's promise.
To reclaim rural India in the population conversation, we need more than schemes: We need a rural-first approach to population policy that puts the people and their dignity at the centre. This begins with participatory planning, where village institutions, SHGs, and panchayats are empowered to shape decisions around the developmental needs of the locals. It demands decentralised delivery, where access to services and entitlements reaches the very last home, not as an exception, but as the norm. Gender equity must be embedded across all efforts, not as an add-on, but as a core commitment.
From empowering women leaders in panchayats to unlocking opportunities for the rural youth, these efforts reflect a quiet but powerful shift taking root across India's villages. Change is no longer something being brought in from the outside, it is being shaped from within, by communities asserting their rights, reimagining local governance, and building pathways to dignity and opportunity.
As we move towards the next Census, we must look beyond data points to the lived experiences already unfolding on the ground. It's time to reframe the population narrative, not in terms of fear or control, but through trust in rural India's aspirations and agency. Demography is not destiny, but dignity must be. And that dignity begins where most of India lives: In its villages.
The writer is an associate director at Transform Rural India (TRI)