EQUITY NEEDED TO HARNESS YOUTH DIVIDEND

India's youth population presents a significant opportunity for an economic surge, but realising this potential requires an equity-oriented approach that addresses the country's vast socio-economic disparities

- ANNIE NAMALA

THE equity approach distinguishes between equity and equality. The accompanying image best illustrates the equity approach, which is built around fairness and justice and factors in the contextual inequalities diverse groups of youth face. These inequalities pertain to caste, ethnicity, religious identity, gender, class, (dis)ability, geographic location, sexual orientation, and any other factor that may impact a young person’s well-being and opportunities.

Since these inequalities are structural and systemic, equity measures also need to be structural, focused on building relevant public institutions, effective public goods and services, adequate budget allocations and public education to create an enabling environment.