India, Aug. 5 -- A policy report from halfway across the world caught my eye. Released in the UK, titled 'Young people and work', it paints a sobering picture of a growing population of young people classified as NEET - Not in Education, Employment or Training.

My immediate instinct was to contrast this with what I see around me every day in India. We don't have a crisis of voluntary inactivity; we have a culture of intense, almost breathless competition.

One sentence, in particular, made me pause: "For young people especially, the first steps into work are often the first steps into adult life."

Historically, a first job wasn't just a financial transaction. They were how young people quietly built confidence, learned to handle respons...