Sports medals won by rural athletes show India’s potential demographic dividend

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₹5 lakh a year, as per a report by the Indian Express. This achievement indicates the vast pool of raw talent waiting to be tapped in India’s vast hinterland, hobbled by a lack of opportunity and exposure. Such talent can blossom not just in sports, but in economic achievement as well.

Migrants from rural areas perform the low-skilled jobs that enable urban India to function – in transport, delivery, hospitality, office maintenance, security, plumbing, construction, etc. This only scratches the surface, making use of raw, untrained labour. Imagine what would happen if the positive energy, and eager talent in rural India waiting to achieve big things could be given training and the opportunity to deploy their newly acquired skills.

The huge strides rural India has taken in digital access means that plenty of people have experimented with offerings in entertainment, and found success, on assorted social media. YouTube channels that offer dance and song from self-styled stars of music and dance from India’s vast hinterland proliferate. Some of them offer more than a decent livelihood to their starring artiste-entrepreneurs, who model themselves on what they find in Hindi cinema, to adapt folk dance and music to entertain a non-local audience.

Smartphones with cameras and snippy editing tools available via app downloads have empowered such artistes. Some stand-up comedians have found a pan-North India, if not quite a pan-India, audience. Sports and entertainment have the advantage of not requiring a great deal of specialised training to achieve moderate success.