A Dynamic and Youthful Workforce Provides India Tremendous Opportunity in the International Labour Market: Shri Vyalar Ravi

A dynamic and youthful workforce provides India Tremendous opportunity in the international labour market. 

The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Shri Vayalar Ravi said this while inaugurating an international conference on “India- European Union Migration and Mobility : Prospects and Challenges”. 

Emphasising on India’s strength, the Minister said: “The ageing population with low birthrate in Europe is a cause for decelerating workforce in labour markets across the region. On the other hand, out of the 1.2 billion people in India, one third of them are between the age group of one to fourteen and by 2030, India will have a dynamic and youthful workforce of about seven hundred million with an average age of thirty five. This very fact has provided India with unprecedented energy and opportunity. This facilitates and provides tremendous opportunity for mutually and reciprocally beneficial workforce migration form India to E.U. countries.” 

Towards facilitation of international migration of the skilled, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has signed 18 Social Security Agreements and has also signed a Human Resource Mobility Partnership (HRMP) with Denmark, he said 

The minister said, his Ministry also puts emphasis on legal and safe migration, protection and welfare of migrant workers, and enhance international cooperation in managing migration. 

The participants in the conference brought home the point that globalization is not just about markets, goods and services, but also about human mobility. UN data show that the number of international migrants has grown from 175 million in 2000 to 232 million today, with Asia accounting for much of the increase and Europe remains the most popular destination with 72 million international migrants in 2013.Violent conflicts in regions around the world and emerging factors such as climate change are resulting in the movement of large number of people, either as displaced persons, migrants or refugees. From an employment point of view, the scale of the informal sector in developing countries makes labour migrants prone to exploitation, trafficking and smuggling, also to social dumping. All these need more focus on cooperation and opening up safer and legal pathways into destination countries, especially in times of crisis. 

The two-day international conference is being attended by about 150 participants which will deliberate on different aspects of migration such as illegal migration, shift in migration patterns, mobile labour, exploitation of migrant labourers, trans-border human trafficking etc. 

Source ; PIB Release, 17 Oct., 2013