Hyderabad: Population control has lacked priority in India, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said today, lamenting the tendency in some quarters to link it to religion.

He made the remarks after inaugurating a medical camp and two skill development facilities at Swarna Bharat Trust’s (SBT’s) Hyderabad chapter here.

“The need to control population in the country has been forgotten. The country’s population is (now) over 130 crore…

We have forgotten the aspect of controlling population…

Political parties are also scared to talk about it fearing what people may think.

“Unfortunately, some are linking it to religion. However, it is not related to it,” Naidu said.

“Somehow…rulers have not given priority to it (population control),” he added.

Naidu underlined the need for job creation, observing that India was the youngest country having 65 per cent of population below 35 years of age.

“If our nation has to progress, and if we wish to add wings to the aspirations of our youth, we need to create enough jobs to employ each and every youngster,” the vice president said

India must upgrade the skills of its young population not only for economic benefit but for social reasons too, he said, adding that the country’s huge human capital has to be made more qualitative with a focus on rapid growth of productive enterprises and jobs.

He said growth and inclusion must go together.

Naidu said skill development was the most important thing for the development of the country and it should be the top priority for the central and state governments.

“The most daunting challenge is to impart proper training and skills to unemployed, young population. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is a demand-driven, reward-based skill training scheme,” the vice president said.

He urged the youth to use their talent and time in a constructive manner to acquire more knowledge and “then try to stand on your own”.

“This is the time when ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ can work in conjunction in one ecosystem and create a new resurgent India. We have to ensure that we scale up our efforts with greater speed. I’m sure that with proper ecosystem, India will become the world’s largest exporter of skilled manpower in the future,” Naidu said.

He said manufacturing currently contributes about 13 per cent to the GDP of the country and ‘Make In India’ seeks to increase it to 25 per cent in the coming years to give a major push to the economy.

“In China, the manufacturing sector contributes about 36 per cent to the GDP. The share of manufacturing in the GDP at 13 per cent is amongst the lowest as compared to many rapidly developing economies.

“The sector as a whole has been facing shortage of skilled manpower and the efforts of the government in skilling the youth should be supplemented by the corporate sector and the industries so that the target of 25 per cent contribution to the GDP is achieved faster,” Naidu said.

The vice president also said though healthcare has been accorded utmost priority by successive governments since Independence, the challenges on this front continue to be daunting and formidable.

“The major challenges include low public spend, low doctor-patient ratio, low patient-bed ratio, dearth of medical colleges and trained doctors, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate disease surveillance and preventive mechanisms,” he said.

The vice president proposed a need for a multi-pronged effort to tackle all these problems by the government, the private sector, voluntary organisations and even individual medical specialists at their own level.

“While developed nations spend about 18 per cent of the GDP on healthcare goods and services, India spends a mere 4.2 per cent,” he said, adding there is a definite need not only to expand the infrastructure in ublic health sector, but also increase the budget.

“While the number of physicians available is 20 per 10,000 people in developed countries, it is only six in India.

The country needs 10.5 lakh doctors while we have only 6.5 lakh,” he added.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao were among those who spoke on the occasion.