From Bob Giles:

In Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation, Nandan Nilekani presented for me a new idea. I have made many speeches about population control and referred multiple times to the plight of thousands in India. According to Nilekani, since the 1970s there has been a shift in labor productivity and the knowledge economy and thus a shift in both political and economic power.

“Today…India’s growth is credited to its strength in human capital, and the rise of IT [information technology] in India, for instance, is seen in terms of ‘Indian talent’ as entrepreneurs and workers overcame the barriers that existed in the 1990s to drive growth...The change in this idea of population as a ‘burden’ to population as an ‘asset’ is central to what is driving India today.”

There is still a problem, however, and I think it is similar to that of Western Virginia as I continue to try to see similarities and find solutions for the US region. In India, the people as “human capital” need roads to get them to work, electric lights for night work, and English skills. Analogously, in Western Virginia, people need roads, health care, diverse jobs, and education for wellness and those ever-changing jobs. In India, the young population “labor pool” is of restless, ambitious, young workers “…not hamstrung by tradition and old habit….a shot in the arm in terms of new ideas and opportunities.” In India, rising democracy is part of what is new.

In Virginia we could have heard the identical speech made by chief minister Nitish Kumar (2007):

"'Our young people leave the state and go for jobs elsewhere…we need to make such opportunities happen here. Only then will the young stay.’ His words were met with roars of approval."

"It was a sound that gives me hope," writes Nilekani.

Me, too.

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Photo credit:  Elephant by Nidhin G Poothully

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Robert H. Giles, Jr. writes High Five for Handshake 2.0.  The opinions Robert Giles expresses are solely his own and are not necessarily shared by Handshake 2.0 or its clients. 

Feel free to follow Robert H. Giles, Jr. on Twitter @Bob_Giles

Robert H. Giles, Jr. is a Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus with a vision for a rural land management system.  He writes two blogs, The Survivalists and Faunal Force.