New Delhi: India has witnessed a substantial improvement in adolescents' well-being over recent decades, showcasing the Government of India’s impressive array of policies and programmes designed to promote adolescents' well-being, said a report “The Economic Case for Investment in the Well-being of Adolescents in India” released here on Thursday.
The report, however, said that despite these achievements, there are still opportunities for further progress. Focusing on the economic rationale for investing in adolescents' well-being, the report shows that seven key programmes in health, education, child marriage prevention and road safety are predicted to give high returns on investment, ranging from 4.6 to 71.4 dollars for every dollar invested.
“Making these future investments, some of which are already planned within existing national programmes would boost the Indian economy by an average of 10.1 per cent of annual GDP, an investment of US$ 33 billion per annum across the various sectors by the government, private sector, civil society, communities and families themselves would yield a return of US$476 billion per annum,” the report released by health secretary Apoorva Chandra said.
An amount of Rs 2 lakh crore budgetary allocation was made by the Central government towards adolescents' well-being in the Union Budget 2024-25. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Chandra said that India has and will continue to remain steadfast in its commitment to nurturing adolescents’ talents, supporting their ambitions and empowering them to build a brighter, inclusive future for all.
“India has the largest population of adolescents in the world, 253 million strong and growing. Our adolescents are the backbone of our future, embodying the promise of a vibrant and progressive nation. We recognise that ensuring their health, education and empowerment is vital to achieving our national and international development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our government is dedicated to creating an environment where adolescents can thrive, make informed decisions and contribute meaningfully to society,” said Chandra.
He highlighted that India is the first country to launch the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), a dedicated programme to reach out to 253 million adolescents--male and female, rural and urban, married and unmarried, in and out-of-school adolescents--with special focus on marginalised and under-served groups.
“India is on the cusp of launching the U-WIN platform. which is modelled after the Co-WIN platform. The launch of the platform would lead to a transformative impact on not just storing the health records of every child, but also in digitising these records as well as in monitoring, identifying and rectifying the challenges that arise,” Chandra said.
