India Demographic Dividend Safety Systemic Neglect Lucknow Fire

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, India’s political class has expressed anguish at the devastating fire in Lucknow that claimed 15 lives, most of them young trainees and employees of an animation centre. The responses have been predictable. The Opposition has attacked the government. Those in office have announced inquiries, compensation for victims’ families, and accountability.

But it is time for the powers-that-be to confront a deeper reckoning that seems to be eluding them for years. At a time when young people and those just beginning their careers constitute the largest segment of India’s population, the commitment to harnessing the demographic dividend cannot be about homilies. It must be reflected in the creation and nurturing of institutions and environments, which, at the very least, don’t compromise on safety and reliability. By that measure, recent events have revealed something very distressing. Can our policymakers discern the pattern in the toll taken on Monday, the Delhi building collapse a few weeks ago, a coaching centre fire in Delhi two years ago, the students who die by suicide amid the uncertainty caused by exam failures, and the crushing weight of academic expectations? It shouldn’t be difficult to see what these incidents have in common. Society is constantly asking its youth to study harder, compete better, dream bigger, work more, and do better than the previous generations. At the same time, young people find themselves studying and working in unsafe environments and are made dependent on unreliable systems.

Nurturing a demographic dividend is a promise that the state and society will invest in the lives of young people and enable them to spread their wings. The challenge, of course, is to create capacities, and much has been rightly written on India’s knowledge economy deficits. But first things first — the authorities need to ensure that due processes are followed. Every one of the recent tragedies has a feeling of déjà vu written over it. Fires in coaching centres, educational facilities, and commercial complexes expose the routine disregard for safety norms. Building collapses incriminate a regulatory culture where rules exist largely on paper and enforcement arrives only after disaster strikes, which is often pushed by the judiciary. Examination failures reveal an education system beset by technical glitches, logistical disruptions, and administrative errors, and unable to shield itself from organised paper-leak rackets.

For many young people, there is little room for error and almost no tolerance for failure, all the more so at a time when a growing mismatch between aspirations and economic opportunities has raised the stakes of every career decision. The cost of this high-pressure milieu is writ large in the recurring reports of student suicides. While each death may have its own context, it is time policymakers opened their eyes and ears to the human cost of an ecosystem in which one setback, one administrative lapse, or one cancelled examination can seem to a young person like the collapse of an entire future and the squandering of years of emotional and financial sacrifices of their families.

Each tragedy tells young Indians that the system cannot keep its promises about the demographic dividend. What more will it take for those in power to act with urgency and apply meaningful corrections?

The writer is senior associate editor, The Indian Express. kaushik.dasgupta@expressindia.com