Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2512 471 9583
Password: work

Certificate of Participants

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Abstract

As India’s demographic dividend rapidly narrows, the country faces a defining economic challenge: creating sustainable livelihoods before it grows old. This webinar explores the urgent realities of jobless growth, widening inequality, rural distress and the persistently low participation of women in the workforce.

The session examines why India must accelerate economic growth to 9 per cent annually and generate 350 million non-farm jobs by 2055 to avoid ageing into a poorer nation. It challenges prevailing narratives around poverty reduction and economic progress, while highlighting the structural barriers that continue to limit opportunities for millions.

Combining rigorous evidence with practical policy perspectives, the webinar offers a timely roadmap for building an inclusive, self-sufficient and prosperous India. At a moment when the window of demographic opportunity is closing fast, this discussion serves as both a warning and a call to action for policymakers, academics, industry leaders and young citizens alike.

About the Panel

Dr. TCA Anant

Dr TCA Anant is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, off-campus. Dr Anant superannuated as a member of the Union Public Service Commission in 2023. Before this, he was a Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), University of Delhi. He has also served as the Chief Statistician of India (CSI) and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation from 2010 to 2018, and as Member Secretary, Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) from 2006 to 2009. As Member Secretary, ICSSR, Prof. Anant was instrumental in getting undertaken the fourth review of ICSSR. He also steered the research efforts of ICSSR in doing the first baseline survey of Minority Concentration Districts. Prof Anant has served on Expert Committees of various Ministries and Agencies of the Government of India, the Reserve Bank of India, the Competition Commission of India, Councils and Boards of several Universities as well as international organizations.

Prof. Anant received his PhD in Economics from Cornell University and his MA in Economics from DSE. He was Assistant Professor in Economics at Michigan State University, USA, and Reader and then Professor in DSE, where he started the course on Law and Economics in the MA program. His research has covered a wide range of areas, including Labor Economics, Industrial Economics, Law and Economics and Econometrics.

Prof. Santosh Mehrotra

Santosh Mehrotra is Visiting Professor, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK and former Professor (Economics) and Chair of the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Santosh spent 15 years with the UN (1991-2006) in research positions, heading UNICEF’s global research programme on social/economic policy at the Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, and as chief economist of the global Human Development Report New York. He returned to India to head the Rural Development Division and Development Policy Division of Planning Commission (2006-09).He was also the Director General (2009-14) of the National Institute of Labour Economics Research, Planning Commission, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

He advises the current NITI, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry of Skill Development. He is the lead author of several chapters of the 11th & 12th Five Year Plans of India, and the India Human Development Report. He has a huge number of publications in reputed Indian and Foreign journals. He regularly writes on labour issues in various newspapers. His writings have been translated into Hindi, Spanish, French, Russian, German and Portuguese.

Prof. Jajati K. Parida

Jajati Keshari Parida is a full-time Professor at the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad. He holds a Ph.D. from the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, and has held various teaching and research positions at institutions such as University of Delhi, National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NITI Aayog), and Central University of Punjab. His research focuses on Employment and Labour Migration, Poverty, and Human Development, with his work published in prominent journals like the World Development, Social Indicators Research, Economic Change and Restructuring, and Economic and Political Weekly. Prof. Parida has contributed to various national policy reports, written for leading newspapers (like The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Financial Express, and The Hindustan Times etc.), and provided consultancy to ADB, Wadwani Foundation (USA), Swiss Development Cooperation, Population Council of India, and the National Alliance for Social Security (NASS) etc. He is the recipient of the “L.K. Deshpande Young Labour Economist” award in 2022 by ISLE and the “Best Researcher Award” in 2019 by Central University of Punjab. He is one of Associate editors of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics, and guest editors to a few journals. His co-authored book titled “India Out of Work” published by the Bloomsbury, London, is forthcoming in February 2026.