What precisely does India's demographic dividend amount to? In 2026, to pick a random year from the near future, 573 million Indians will be aged between 15 and 30, out of a total population of close to 1.5 billion. Well-equipped and skilled, a young population can be a boon. Ill-equipped and poorly-skilled, it can be a disaster. The challenge before us is an economic one - providing education, vocational skills and jobs. Yet, it is also a social one, related to health and nutrition.Not that this has gone unrecognised. After all, among the points raised during the recent debate on the Food Security Bill was the need to ensure timely and adequate food for our children. It has been scientifically established that nutrition is directly linked to cognitive development and learning abilities and is therefore essential for young children.Rearing a child cannot, however, be broken into separate parts and silos. It represents a continuum where education, social and physical environment, food s

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Sanjay Jaiswal

Sanjay Jaiswal

Sanjay Jaiswal

Sanjay Jaiswal: Vaccines and the demographic 'dividend'