Marred by economic downturn and skyrocketing unemployment rates, India boosting one of the world’s youngest populations could be drawn towards civil strife.

Opined Indian-born academic and professor of conflict at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Ashok Swain in his piece, the academician was of the view that the nonavailability of employment opportunities for the millions of youth could create massive challenges for the social peace and political order.

As per the latest figures, the unemployment rate in India touched over 9 percent in August 2020, whereas, 18.9 million Indians receiving regular salaries have lost their jobs since April. Adding to the unemployment woes over 6.8 million daily wage earners have also lost their jobs during this period.

The world’s second-largest country by population would lose about 4-6 million jobs among its youths aged between 15 to 24 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, found Asian Development Bank and International Labour Organization in its recent report.

Naturally, the Indian GDP too which was already slowing down before COVID has taken the hit amid the pandemic and could decline by at least 5pc in 2020.

Ashok writes that due to authorities mismanagement during the COVId crisis, as India became one of the largest hotspots of coronavirus with over 3 million cases, the chances for economic recovery remains bleak.

This added with the ever-increasing number of millions of unemployed young men could push the country towards civil strife.