It is a wonder that children of the age of six and seven years play with the latest mobile phones and computers while the elder ones find it difficult to operate the same. How is it possible for a six or seven year old that has just started to read and write alphabets to operate such complex gadgets and games which has been developed by the world’s best minds?

Is it their extra ordinary mind that works?

The answer is no. If we could watch around, we will realize that it is the entire ecosystem that prepares the children to do all such things as playing games, operating computers etc with ease. The children use their sensory perceptions and skills to differentiate right from wrong. It is quite interesting that in Sweden which is the most technology driven country in the world, 3 year old children uses internet. They are even capable of operating complex equipments that we are scared to even touch, even after formal education and all these years of experience. In India, men without formal education are capable of handling advanced gadgets such as mobile phone, where women with formal education are not capable of. Car wash guys and rickshaw pullers in India use mobile phones to do their business with multiple customers.

The significance of technology

Be it the six year old child or the car wash guy or the rickshaw puller, who are barely capable of writing their names, are empowered with the use of technology. In another sense, technology has enabled them to an extent where pen, paper and writing have become useless. All of them are reaping benefits from the opportunities from the demographic dividend, as the technologies introduced by the companies are helping the economy of India grow.

What do you mean by demographic dividend?

Ever since the term has gained popularity in the background of the economic reforms in India and India’sposition in the global village, demographic dividend has been loosely defined and more erroneously, as the strength that an economy derives from an educated work force. It is of no doubt that huge dividends can be drawn from an educated and highly skilled man power in any fast paced economy.

Demographic dividend can be defined as the increase in the rate of economic growth as a result of increase in the share of working age people in a population. It necessarily does not have to come from those who can read or write, but from those who directly or indirectly contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP), which results in the rise of per capita income. It presents with an opportunity for the per capita income to rise. This has nothing to do with the formal education one has received, but is driven by the informal education one receives as a contribution of technology to the uneducated. As in the case of the car wash guy or the rickshaw puller who did not get a formal education, it has more to do with the gadgets they have used to keep them employed, which would not have been possible few years back.

This presents with hope and opportunity to many in the rural areas, who otherwise would have been doing unproductive works in the rural areas.

The increasing number of mobile users increases mobility and accessibility

We can discover the increasing opportunity for growth from the rising number of mobile users. There are 900 million mobile users in India, which was 233 million four years back. This has brought in opportunities for the uneducated to be self employed and thus increase their income levels. This is happening across small towns in India in addition to cities.

Mobile connections as a means of livelihood

A decade back in India, only one out of 15 had the luxury of owning a landline. But today every three out of four has a mobile connection. An interesting fact about the mobile connections is that many of them find a means to earn their living by selling SIM cards, in areas including rural India. Small shops and kiosks are visible across almost all streets India which sells SIM cards, recharge coupons, mobile phones, and mobile servicing centers. Majority of them serving the 900 million mobile users are small shops which has become an important as any other store we visit.

Education versus mobile communication

With the increasing popularity of mobile phones and other electronic communication devices, many of our daily transactions are now made through mobile phones. The real advantage of m-commerce is yet to be unleashed which will drive the growth in the economy, much better than education.

Mobile will reach more people than education

Four decades from now, 81 per cent of the Indian population will be below the age of 60 years. It is estimated that the number of people in the working population above 15 years of age will increase from 800 million to just short of one billion in the next decade and to 1.2 billion in 2030. We cannot expect that all of them will be empowered by education, typically by the system that we follow in India. The present education system and the infrastructure are inadequate to entire population of prospective students. To educate at least one third of the students, we need more than 500 new universities, and 35000 new colleges, which seems difficult in the near future. So the role of mobile communication in the growth of the economy cannot be ignored in the present situation and in the years to come.

Demographic dividend influenced

It is for sure that demographic dividend cannot be increased by achieving 100 per cent literacy, that too in a country like India which is soon to become the world’s most populous country in the world. It could be achieved by empowering the masses with technology such as mobile phones. The demographic dividend in India will not grow just with blackboards, as technology is reaching more than education does.