Government needs to improve infrastructure to utilise youth workforce: Report

NEW DELHI: By 2020, India is projected to have the world’s largest youth workforce of 465 million people at an average age of 29 years, but most of that potential could likely be wasted in a congested, infrastructure-starved country. To ensure better prospects, the government needs to improve traffic, power, water and healthcare, among other areas, through its smart cities initiative, research firm Zimmov said in a report titled ‘100 Smart Cities in India: Taking a leap into the Future’. It has identified 100 potential smart cities in India, based on framework defined by the government, and outlined the steps required to ensure that this target can be achieved by 2017. Among these are Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Agra, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Thiruvanathapuram, Patna, Kozhikode, Guntur, and Gurgaon.