New Delhi, Nov. 23 -- In 1992, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping reportedly said that if West Asia had oil, China would have rare earths. In two decades, China was actually dominating the rare earths chain end-to-end, from mining to magnets.

Today, it controls 70% of rare earths mining, 90% of processing and 93% of magnet production. Not surprisingly, it can and does use this monopoly as a political bargaining chip.

What, then, is India's equivalent resource the world needs but cannot easily replicate or replace? The answer is not mineral or metal. It is people.

Demographic deluge

India has a unique combination of population size and age distribution, which gives it a massive number of young people. The United Nations estimates that in 202...