Directions: Fill in the blanks in the passage below, with the word from among the options given for each blank labelled (1) to (10). Choose the word that fits in each blank most appropriately in the context of the passage.

The United Nations Population Division released a new set of population ____(1)____ on July 11, World Population Day. These projections show that India will become the most populous country in 2023, earlier than the year 2027, as expected. However, this is not because India has not successfully ____(2)____ its population policy but because China’s fertility is lower than anticipated. Following years of ____(3)____ population control, restricting most couples to a single child, in 2016, China relaxed its one-child policy to allow two children. Then, in 2021, it was further relaxed to allow a third child. Nonetheless, Chinese couples seem to have adjusted to life with a single child, and the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in China is barely 1.16.

The size of the population is intimately connected to the power ____(4)____ shaping the relationship between nations, regions and generations. It is, however, a double-edged sword that needs to be skillfully wielded. So what do population transformations around the globe and within India herald for challenges facing Indian public policy? The following 25 years will bring three different changes in the centre of population gravity: Between nations, between states and between generations. Each will require a finely ____(5)____ response.

First, over the next 25 years, as India approaches a century, we will be blessed with a ____(6)____ workforce that will cast a long shadow. Globally, one in five working-age persons will live in India. The challenge is that a sizeable working-age population does not mean many workers. The size of our labour force is constrained by the absence of women from the workforce. Only about 30 per cent of women aged 15 and above are employed either in wage work on family farms or businesses. With sharply ____(7)____ fertility and rising education, many Indian women would like to work if they can find suitable jobs. Unless they can be welcomed into gainful employment, we will not be able to reap the hoped-for demographic dividend. Women are shut out of many sectors of the Indian economy. The absence of women in factories, the transportation sector and skilled blue-collar work is ____(8)____. Making these occupations female-friendly is essential if we are to reap a gender dividend.

The second aspect of the demographic centre of gravity relates to population distribution between states. With fertility transition beginning in southern states and slowly spreading to central India, future workers will come from the central part of the country, ____(9)____ the states that have lagged behind in fertility transition so far. As Professor P M Kulkarni projects, the southern states, already facing the burden of caring for a larger proportion of the population aged 65 and above, will be even more ____(10)____ in years to come.