Ecology of Adolescence in India

The kaleidoscopic images of Indian adolescents are colored by variations and inequities in region, gender, caste, and social class. The contrast between the privileged and the under privileged makes them appear as belonging to different worlds marked by the “freedoms” of the ‘haves’ and the “unfreedoms” of the have-nots. What offers hope is the significant improvement seen in literacy during the past decade. Although we are far off the mark in universalization of primary education and the enforcement of the right to education, there is reason for optimism due to significant improvements in literacy over the past decade. Adolescent health and nutrition continue to remain grave concerns. Poor reproductive health, especially of young women at risk of early marriage and pregnancy, contributes to the cycle of poor nutrition, health and poor well-being. Enlightened policies offer hope while poor implementations of programs for adolescent welfare cause for despair. The nation stands at the crossroads of economic development with a large expanding pool of adolescent population who can become contributing members of the society in the coming decades. Investment in their education and health can pay rich dividends even as the failure to do so will bring with it a high social cost. The current paper addresses these issues in the light of available empirical data. (An earlier version of the present paper based on data from the Census of India (2001) was published in Saraswathi, T. S. (2012) Ecology of Adolescence (pp188–210) in M. Kapur, H.M. Koot &M. Lamb (Eds.) Developmental Psychology and Education. New Delhi: Manek Publications Pvt. Ltd for ICSSR, NOW and ESRC. The present paper has used updated statistics from the Census of India (2001) and other statistical data wherever possible.).