Bihar’s Demographic Dividend

Bihar is an example of how India is wasting its demographic dividend. Come here and you'll see: fastest growing economy means nothing when jobs don't exist on the ground.

In Munger, where I'm staying, most young people in their mid-20s are doing nothing. Half of Bihar's youth is grinding endlessly for government exams. The other half scrolls reels on Chinese phones, inside an American app, both countries they abuse daily.

At the gym, I meet guys whose "career" is three hours of lifting weights, a few lottery tickets in the name of trading, some Winzo or MPL games, then back to reels. If you ask them why? They will respond - there aren't many jobs.

Bihar is India's youngest state. It has 10% of the country's youth. And yet it feels stuck with no direction and little progress. But people here are happy because they get regular electricity, rations, and crime is down from what it used to be.

Most of my childhood friends are jobless. They are either unemployed or would like to believe they are not. And if not for education, I too would have been scrolling reels, gambling on options, playing Ludo all day.

Government and policy makers will have to understand that India can't shine without Bihar. We don't exist just to supply laborer to well-off states.