1. The Evolution of Skill Development in India
This paper intends to focus on the evolution of skill development in India, when it was
introduced, why was the concept of skill development neglected for so long, now that the state
has become aware of the concept what kind of steps it is taking towards it and what kind of
impact will it give to the development of the country. The points that I raise in this paper is
mostly tilted towards the reason why it was not the centre of focus then and how now it has
become important now. What all things shall be done to help people get proper jobs and define
job security?
The first thing that we would focus on is when exactly was the concern to concentrate on
the skill development training was introduced it was in the 11th Planning Commission. Then we
would move on to the history of skill development in India. Was it ever in the picture is a big
question? This would lead us to the current situation in which the country regarding the skill
development. The current situation would mainly zero down to the 4E’s. It is a common view
that the 4E’s, Expansion, Equity, Excellence and lastly Employment are the most important
parameters that shall make me cover up the major topics of my paper. The shifting of interest
from education to skill development will be answered here and the thin line between education
and skill will too be emphasized.
The tools, that shall help me substantiate the point, is that the focus has shifted towards
skill development will be firstly be, The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,
why is there a new ministry, the vision and the mission of the newly formed ministry. Then that
shall take us to the skill development policy. The policy would focus on how the ministry is
going to work, mainly its targets and what all deadlines it has set up for itself in relation to the
current situation of skill development in India. This policy document will help in defining the 49-
51 partnerships between government and private company that has come together to setup an

2. organization called, NSDC. The National Skill Development Corporation focuses on the skill
development in the country with respect to the targets laid down in the policy document. The
NSDC has two branches, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and UDAAN. Their
work is monitored and both initiatives focus on different sections; PMKVY concentrates over
India where as UDAAN concentrates solely on Jammu and Kashmir, making them completely
distinctive from each other in terms of the targets and the success ratio. As we now move
towards the details of the paper I have taken special interest in the section of Entrepreneurship,
as how this will help in job creation and this is an excellent venture I must assure.
Introspecting the plan, steps taken and the current impact. The current position as the
ministry inches towards achieving its targets, has something gone wrong is what I would be
pinpointing some of my views that will substantiate the current skill development situation and
how can it improve the deliverables. The rise in the current implementation and the effect it will
have on the people in the future. All these points will help me cement as to how the skill
development program is progressing in India. It may please be noted that it comes from a student
with no previous bias or prejudice.
The 11th Planning Commission Report (Introduction to the concept of “Skill
Development”)
As India moves progressively towards becoming a ‘Knowledge Economy' it becomes
increasingly important that the Eleventh Plan should focus on the advancement of skills and
these skills have to be relevant to the emerging economic environment. In the old economy, skill
development largely meant the development of shop floor or manual skills. Even in this area,
there are major deficiencies in our workforce, which needs to be rectified. In knowledge
economy, the skill sets can range from professional, conceptual, managerial and operational
behavioral to interpersonal skills and inter-domain skills. In the 21st century as science
progresses towards a better understanding of the minuscule, that is, genes, nanoparticles, bits and
bytes and neurons, knowledge domains and skill domains also multiply and become more and
more complex. To cope up with this level of complexity the Eleventh Plan has given a very high
priority to Higher Education. Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth
and social development of any country. They have become even more important given the

3. increasing pace of globalization and technological as both takes into account the challenges that
are taking place in the world. Countries with higher and better levels of skills adjust more
effectively to the challenges and opportunities of globalization. Initiatives such as establishing 30
new Central universities, 5 new IISERs, 8 IITs, 7 IIMs, 20 IIITs, etc. are aimed at meeting that
part of the challenge of skill development. In this chapter, however, it is proposed, to keep our
focus on mass scale skill development in different trades through specially developed training
modules delivered by ITIs, Polytechnics, vocational schools, etc. The Eleventh Plan aims at
launching a National Skill Development Mission, which shall bring about a paradigm shift in the
handling of ‘Skill Development' programmes and initiatives.
The 11th and the 12th Planning Commission set the history of Skill Development in the country.
What it was and what exactly it became and how economists and other viewers have perceived it
in the past few decades? The next few sections deal with mainly the goals and strategies
developed in the two Commissions.
DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND
The decline in the rate of growth of population in the past few decades implies that in the coming
years fewer people will join the labour force than in preceding years and a working person would
have fewer dependents… children or parents. Modernization and new social processes have also
led to more women entering the workforce further lowering the dependency ratio. This decline in
the dependency ratio (ratio of dependent to working for age population) from 0.8 in 1991 to 0.73
in 2001 to 0.59 by 2011 as per the Technical Group on Population Projections). This decline
sharply contrasts with the demographic trend in the industrialized countries and also in China,
where the dependency ratio is rising. Low dependency ratio gives India a comparative cost
advantage and a progressively lowering dependency ratio will result in improving our
competitiveness. We are an young, emerging and vibrant economy.
It is expected that the ageing economy phenomenon will globally create a skilled manpower
shortage of approximately 56.5 million by 2020 and if we can get our skill development act right,
we could have a skilled manpower surplus of approximately 47 million. In an increasingly
connected world, where national frontiers are yielding to cross-border outsourcing, it is not
inconceivable that within a decade we can become a global reservoir of skilled personnel power.
As it is, we account for 28% of graduate talent pool among 28 of the world’s lowest cost

4. economies.
The criticality of Skill Development in our overall strategy is that if we get our skill development
act right, we will be harnessing ‘demographic dividend’ and mind it if we do not get there, we
could be facing a ‘demographic nightmare’. The Eleventh Plan takes cognizance of these and
endeavours to take a slew of measures, which will bring about a paradigm change in our
Vocational Education System (VES).
India has the youngest population in the world; its median age in 2000 was less than 24
compared 38 for Europe and 41 for Japan. Even China had a median age of 30. It means that
India has the unique opportunity to complement what an ageing rest of the world needs most.
The demographic structure of India, in comparison with that of the competing nations, would
work to the advantage to the extent our youth can acquire skills and seize the global employment
opportunities in the future. This involves co-ordination, dialogue and discussions with the State
Governments, private partners and other stakeholders, arriving at the estimates of a number of
skilled personnel required across the sectors, aligning them with the career objectives of the
youth drawing up different sector-specific modules of varying duration thereby.
ELEVENTH PLAN STRATEGIES
In the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the thrust has been on creating a pool of skilled personnel in
appropriate numbers with adequate skills, in line with the requirements of the ultimate users such
as the industry, trade, and the service sectors. These efforts are necessary to support the
employment expansion envisaged as a result of inclusive growth, including in particular the shift
of surplus labour from agriculture to non-agriculture. This can only take place only if this part of
the labour force is sufficiently skilled. During the Eleventh Plan, it was proposed to launch a
major ‘Skill Development Mission’ (SDM) with an outlay of Rs 22800 crores.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT MISSION
In order to create a pool of skilled personnel in appropriate numbers with adequate skills in line
with the employment requirements across the entire economy with particular emphasis on the
twenty high growth high employment sectors, the government is setting up an SDM consisting of

5. an agglomeration of programmes and appropriate structures aimed at enhancing training
opportunities of new entrants to the labour force from the existing 2.5 million in the non-
agricultural sector to 10 million per year.
MISSION GOAL
To provide within a five- to eight-year timeframe, a pool of trained and skilled workforce,
sufficient to meet the domestic requirements of a rapidly growing economy, with surpluses to
cater to the skill deficits in other ageing economies, thereby effectively leveraging India’s
competitive advantage and harnessing India’s demographic dividend.
The Skill Development Mission (SDM) will have to ensure that our supply-side responses are
perpetually in sync with the demand side impulses both from domestic as well as global
economies. The mission will, therefore, have to involve both public and private sectors in a
symbiotic relationship, with initiatives arising from both sides with reciprocal support. Thus
public sector initiatives to repurpose, reorient and expand existing infrastructure, will need the
involvement of private sector for management and running of Skill Development Programmes,
ending with a placement of candidates. Similarly, Private Sector Initiatives will need to be
supplemented by the government by one-time capital grants to private institutions and by
stipends providing fee supplementation to SC/ST/ OBC/Minorities/other BPL candidates. Thus,
the core strategy would consist of a two-track approach, of a public arm of amplified action
through ministries and State Governments and a private arm of specific and focused actions for
creating skills by the market through private sector-led action. It has to be a Public Private
Partnership model.
MISSION STRATEGIES
The strategies of the Mission will be to bring about a paradigm change in the architecture
of the existing VET System, by doing things differently. The Ministries have to be encouraged to
expand existing their Public Sector Skill Development infrastructure and its utilization by a
factor of five. This will take the VET capacity from 3.1 million to 15 million. This shall be
sufficient to meet the Annual workforce accretion, which is of the order of 12.8 million. In fact,

6. the surplus capacity could be used to train those in the existing labor force as only 2% thereof are
skilled. This infrastructure should be shifted to private management over the next 2–3 years.
States must be guided to incentivize to manage this transition, enlarge the coverage of skill
spectrum from the existing level. Skill Development programmes should be delivered in modules
of 6 weeks to 12 weeks; with an end of module examination/certification. For calibrating manual
skills, a 4–6 level certification system must be established based on increasing order of dexterity
and that of the craftsman skill.
Make a distinction between structural, interventional, last mile unemployability and the
correspondingly set up programmes for 06 months, 12 months and 24 months duration.
Encourage the ‘Finishing Schools’ to take care of last mile unemployability.
• Establish a National Qualifications Framework, which establishes equivalence and provides for
horizontal mobility between various VET, Technical and Academic streams at more than one
career points. Expand VET to cover more classes and move progressively from post matric to
cover 9th class dropouts and then 7th class dropouts.
• Encourage ‘Accreditation Agencies’ in different domains to move away from regulation to
performance Measurement and rating and ranking of institutions.
• Encourage institutional autonomy coupled with self-regulation and stakeholder accountability.
Institutions must have the freedom of action in governance and also in the financial management.
• For standard setting and curriculum setting, establish or notify at least one ‘standard’
setting/quality audit institution’ in each vertical domain.
• Move from a system of funding training institutes to funding the candidates. Institutional
funding could be limited to an upfront capital grant. Recurring funding requirement could be met
by appropriate disbursement to the institute at the end of successful certification. Candidates
from SC/ST/ OBC/ Minorities/ BPL, etc. could be funded in two parts:
(i) Stipend (monthly) to be paid to trainee

7. (ii) Fee subsidization at the end of the programme to be given to the institute after placement.
MISSION STRUCTURE
The Skill Development Mission has to be conceived in a manner, which recognizes that many
Ministries are involved and also many separate Industry and service sectors. The structure
consists of the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development for apex level policy
directions, a National Skill Development Coordination Board, and a National Skill Development
Corporation/Trust. The Central Ministries with Skill Development programmes will operate in a
mission mode and the State governments will gear their departments/agencies into a State Skill
Development Mission. The private sector, especially the twenty high growth sectors will actively
participate as the private arm of the Mission. The composition of the Prime Minister’s Council
on Skill Development and National Skill Development Coordination Board are described below.
The initiatives described above involving both the States and the Centre, often with private
partnership will lead to an establishment of a credible, trustworthy and reliable training, testing
and certification edifice linked to the global standards and responsive to the needs of the ultimate
consumers of skill. With an estimated 58.6 million new jobs in the domestic economy and about
45 million jobs in the international economy surely invites skilled personnel for quality jobs
beckoning the Indian youth, the government and private sector shall act in a concerted manner so
that these opportunities materialize and operate as an employability guarantee.
Critiquing the 12th Five Year Plan
The enactment of Right to Education (RTE), introduction of the National Skills Qualification
Framework (NSQF) and the integration of vocational education with the secondary education,
the dropout rates are likely to decrease. It helps in creating nonfarm employment opportunities
for the educated youth and this is the challenge for the country in near future. To meet the
education targets of near full universalization of secondary education (>90 per cent), GER of 65

8. per cent in higher secondary classes and expected increase of enrollment in universities and
colleges from 200.3 lakhs in 2011–12 to 300.2 lakhs by 2016–17, about 28 million will be drawn
out of the labor force (15–59 age group). Therefore, in order to ensure that the overall labor force
participation rate does not fall much over the Plan period; efforts have to be made to raise the
female work participation rates.
Bridging the Skill Gap
Unemployment among educated people is going to be a major issue during the Twelfth Plan
Period. India is one of the few countries, which have educated unemployed in large numbers.
The major reason is the dearth of vocational and technical education leading to skill mismatch in
the job market. Similarly, the issue of promoting employment opportunities for minorities,
SC/ST and disabled people assumes greater importance, and employment oriented education
needs to be provided in a manner that ensures the need of the vulnerable sections of the society.
Here lies the need for skilling and reskilling of persons entering the labor force to harness the
demographic dividend that India enjoys. While the enrolment in technical higher education has
grown, the employers continue to complain about non-availability of requisite number of skilled
persons. This challenge needs to be addressed at the All India as well as the State level in a
mission mode manner, as otherwise the benefits of demographic dividend would be lost. The
skill enhancement also leads to increased wages for the people and a positive growth outcome
for the economy at large.
The employment challenges as reflected above needs to be addressed so as to meet the faster and
inclusive growth agenda for the Twelfth Plan. Skill development should, therefore, occupy the
centre-stage in any employment strategy for the Twelfth Plan. The following discourse will
discuss the current status of skill development in India, the challenges emerging thereon and the
road map for skilling the requisite manpower so as to reap the demographic dividend on one
hand and enhance the employability of the labour force for inclusive growth on the other.

9. SKILL DEVELOPMENT: THE CHALLENGE
Skill development is critical for achieving faster, sustainable and inclusive growth on the one
hand and for providing decent employment opportunities to the growing young population on the
other. The demographic window of opportunity available to India would make India the skill
capital of world. India would be in position to meet the requirement of technically trained
manpower not only for its growing economy but also of the aging advanced economies of the
world. Hon’ble Prime Minister has rightly indicated that the young population is an asset only if
it is educated, skilled and finds productive employment. If this happens then our dream of
realising India’s potential to grow at the rate of 10% or more per annum for a substantial period
of time can become a reality. Boston Consultancy Group’s study in 2007 had clearly indicated
that by 2020 while India will have surplus of 56 million working people, the rest of the world
will encounter a shortage of 47 million working people. However, skilling this large and growing
young population from an exceedingly small base would be a big challenge for India. The skill
strategy for the Twelfth Plan would have to accordingly take care for these skill challenges in
terms.
The Eleventh Plan had seen a paradigm shift in skill development strategy wherein Public
Private Partnership model had been encouraged in the field of skill development. Besides
involving private sector in upgrading the capacity in the existing institutions both at the ITI and
Polytechnic level, an institutional structure in the form of National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) has been put in place to catalyse the private sector efforts. The NSDC
provides soft loans to the private partners for undertaking any skill activity. NSDC works in
around 365 districts in 28 states and 2 Union Territories in both organized as well unorganised
sectors. NSDC along with its partners have trained over 1.8 lakh people in the year 2011–12 with
an aggregate placement record of around 79 per cent and this I must say is astounding.
To bring together all stakeholders, namely industry, training providers and the academia NSDC
has been catalysing in the setting up of industry led Sectoral Skill Councils (SSCs) for identified
priority sectors. Till March 2012, 11 such SSCs have been approved. These SSCs are expected to
lay down the National Occupational Standards for different levels of jobs in their respective

10. sectors, formulate certification and accreditation norms, strive to create knowledge repository on
current requirement of skill development in the industry, assess the supply of skilled workers,
identify the demand and supply gap in each sector, and identify trends and future requirement
ISSUES AND PRIORITIES FOR THE TWELFTH PLAN
There is an urgent need to mainstream skill formation in the formal education system and at the
same time innovate approaches for the skill creation outside the formal education system.
Although the coordinated action on Skill Development has brought about a paradigm shift in
addressing the issues of relevance in skill development, the gaps in the skill development are to
be identified so as to achieve the objectives in terms of quantity, quality, outreach and mobility
while building on the foundation. The workforce not only needs to be trained to meet the
requirement of all sectors and all kinds of jobs but also link them to job opportunities and market
realities. This would facilitate transformation of young population into a productive workforce
engaged in economic activities and not unproductive activity. There are some areas that merit
attention and these are:
• Since over 90 per cent of India’s labour force is engaged in the non-formal sector, the most
important challenge would be to reach out to this sector.
An approach would need to be worked out to cater to the skilling needs of this very large section
of workforce. Innovative approaches of working through grass-root level organizations such as
panchayati raj bodies would need to be considered.
• Putting in place a National Skills Qualification Framework which lays down different levels of
skills required by industry, which allows multiple points of entry and exit, which recognises prior
learning, and which allows for mobility across different levels, as well as between vocational and
technical training on the one hand, and general education on the other.
• To put in place a permanent institutional framework, entrusted with the requisite authority and
resources, and which is responsible solely for skill development in the country.

11. • Students belonging to the economically weaker sections need to be supported in terms of access
Employment and Skill Development to bank loans on soft terms that are linked to their
placement, as is the case in the higher education loans.
• To increase the training capacity in the country by adopting myriad approaches—such as
facilitating capacity creation in public private partnerships as being done by NSDC, allowing
available government infrastructure to be used for training by both the public and private sector,
running training institutions in multiple shifts, increasing the number of trainers by adding to
Teachers’ Training capacity in the country, and by making it attractive for qualified persons to
opt for becoming trainers. As part of this approach, the possibility of using the infrastructure,
equipment and manpower of sick public sector units would also be explored.
• Further building on the potential of the Modular Employable Skill Programme by ensuring that
combination of modules sufficient to guarantee employability are delivered to the trainees
introducing more course modules and strengthening of assessment and certification systems for
quick delivery.
• Developing a cogent and sustainable approach to provide for industry participation in skill
development, particularly in the field of developing course content which is aligned to industry
requirements. Similarly, accreditation and certification standards to be developed with industry’s
active participation through the medium of Sector Skill Councils.
• Developing the Labour Market Information System for real time information on sectoral basis
to help trainees and make training relevant.
• Making necessary changes to the regulatory framework governing the employment of
apprentices so that this avenue is able to contribute significantly to the skill development effort
in the country. To achieve this, industry needs to be made an active partner, and a collaborative
approach with industry would be adopted. Such an approach would permit using the potential
offered by MSME units also. Through the use of policy and other tools, to encourage the creation
of training capacity in a manner that dovetails with the population and sectoral requirements. The

12. current lop-sided geographical distribution of training facilities and the concentration of training
facilities in only a few sectors would be corrected so that training capacity is created in the areas
of high population and in sectors which have been identified to offer skill gaps.
• Making Skills aspirational among youth, through advocacy campaigns aimed at social change.
These efforts would be complemented by necessary changes in the regulatory framework to
make it economically rewarding for persons to become skilled—such as through providing
sufficient differential in the minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers.
The aim should be to increase the percentage of the workforce, which has received formal skills
through vocational education and training from 10.0 per cent at present to 25.0 per cent by the
end of the Twelfth Plan. This would mean substantial increase in the skill training capacity in the
next five years.
As stated earlier it is important to know the history of skill development. It cements the current
situation the country is in. Now I will focus on the current situation of skill development that will
give a correct picture of what all is happening at the moment in the country.
This section will first focus on the vocational training, which will explain the situation of the
plans launched in the 11th and 12th 5year plan. Post which I shall make an attempt to introduce
the concept of the 4’E ( as defined by Mr. Shashi Tharoor) i.e. Equity, Employment, Excellence
and Expansion. This section will focus on the 4’Es and this shall help me substantiate my point
of view.

13. “Just over one in 10 adults received training: survey”
The Modi government will have its work cut out on skill development; just over one in 10 adults
reported having received any vocational training, according to the new official data the bulk of it
was informal. The National Sample Survey Office released data from its 2011-12 round on
education and vocational training. The numbers shows that among persons in the 15-59 age
group, about 2.2 per cent reported to having received formal vocational training and 8.6 per cent
non-formal vocational training. The non-formal variety mainly comprised the passing down of
hereditary skills, or on-the-job training. Among rural males who received formal vocational
training, the most common field was ‘driving and motor mechanic work’ while among urban
males it was ‘computer trades.’ Among rural females ‘textile-related work’ was the most
common, while among urban females it was ‘computer trades.’ Moreover, the rate of vocational
training had barely increased between 2004-05 when the data was last collected and 2011-12.

14. This was despite the fact that the previous government announced an ambitious National Skill
Policy in 2009 and created a National Skill Development Coordination Board earlier.
In July this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs. 1,500-crore Skill India
campaign, which aims to train 40 crore people by 2022. Senior officials say that while there is a
strong focus on skilling in the new government, there is still little clarity about how to achieve it.
“If you ask me exactly how we are going to do it differently, I cannot tell you that yet,” a senior
bureaucrat in the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship opined. “We are
starting with a poorly educated youth population and little linkage with industry. There is a lot of
corporate support for this mission, but it will take time,” he said. Among people aged 15 and
above, the NSSO data showed, only 2.4 per cent had technical degrees, diplomas or certificates
in fields like medicine, engineering or agriculture. The proportion was 1.1 per cent in rural areas
and 5.5 per cent in urban areas. Just over 60 per cent of those aged 5-29 were currently attending
any educational institution. Among those not currently studying, ‘to supplement household
income’ was the main reason for more than 70 per cent of males for currently not attending any
educational institution, while ‘to attend domestic chores’ was the reason more than half of
females. Attendance rates were highest in Uttarakhand in both rural and urban areas, and lowest
in Gujarat among rural areas and Odisha among urban areas. Attendance rates rise sharply with
income levels. In about 18.2 per cent of households in rural areas and 5.9 per cent in urban areas,
there was not a single member in the age-group 15 years and above who could read and write a
simple message with understanding.
The next section will focus on the 4’E i.e. Expansion, Equity, Excellence and Employment.
India is a young, vibrant country; the average age is around 29. It's a youthful population and by
2020, 160 million people of the population will be between 20-24 yrs.' while in China, it will be
40 million and the USA would be around 17 million. So comparatively, India has a youth-
oriented population and has the capability of achieving remarkable milestones in the coming
future.
So the point I will focus on is that India has the people, but does it have the ability? This is the
point of concern. If India gets its processes wrong, the demographic dividend becomes a
demographic disaster because 165 out of 600 districts are the main points of unemployment.

15. This worry takes us to the 4E's that shall help us understand what kind of situation India is in and
where should it do for the loopholes and correct them.
1st E- Expansion
The British left us in a very complicated position. They left us with 16% literacy rate in 1947 and
if we look at the statistic now we have evolved from that critical condition and today we stand at
74%. Again, there were 26 universities in 1947, now there are 650 universities. Here again we
see that the female literacy rate was 4 lakh at that time of Independence and now it is 20 million.
Yet again we see a long jump from the earlier situation and there were 700 colleges in 1947 and
now there are 25000 colleges. So we can see the improvement. Therefore, expansion has taken
place. We can observe with the help of the statistics that the situation in India has improved
tremendously since then but is there any scope for improvement…undoubtedly there is.
Now we would move on to the 2nd E, i.e. Equity.
People who didn't get their fair share reached out to get their rightful share, which included
education. Bringing caste, religion, region together is a big challenge. Here the female literacy
rate at that time was 8.9%, which tells us that just out of 1 out of 11 women knew how tor read
and write. So, therefore, we can see that India went through a tough situation to get up to its feet.
Keeping this thought in mind, we now move on to the 3rd E, i.e. Excellence.
The quality of education takes us to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru vision, i.e. IIT Kharagpur.
Established in 1956, it was done on the sight of a British detention center, a symbol of political
oppression now it has become a symbol of hope. But only some have tended to be islands of
expression of excellence on a sea of mediocrity. The average Indian higher education is simply
not the quality we would like to see and that ties us to the 4th E, i.e. Employment.
The truth is, if one tends to talk to CEO, MD worldwide they opine that they are not satisfied
with the quality of graduates at all. In the technology sector itself half a million graduated which
maybe around 64% are not satisfied. Infosys, one of the biggest technology company in the
world and the biggest in India, educate the people they hire and fully make them learn what they

16. have not learnt at their stay in their respective colleges. This is a challenge we are currently
facing. The right to education act states that kids should get into the system at an early stage.
Earlier, if they went out of school, it was their parent's fault but now, if today they are out of
school it's the states fault. The government is committed to giving them education and more
money is being pumped in so that they have resources to give the students.
But what do we do about the gender gap that persists in India? It's a gap the state must
overcome; 66% in today's date which looks better than the 8.9% at the time of Independence but
still there is only 1 out of 3 Indian women who still can't read or write. Again, what is the point
of adult literacy? The answer to this is, change their lives and it empowers them. Literacy gives
empowerment, which the state is trying to do before we get to a good percentage. The gross
enrolment ratio is the percentage of the certain age. Good numbers of kid attend primary school,
which is fascinating, but the bad news is that as you go up the level middle school, high school it
starts dropping. 8th grade is 69% and 10th grade is 39% but the brutal part is that at the college
level, it is 18% against the global average 29%.
We clearly see that we still need to do more expansion, which hasn't gone enough. Some of them
need vocational training. There is a shortage of masons, plumbers, farmers, and all together low-
level jobs so; therefore, we need more vocational training. The concept of community college
should come up where kids can go in and have some academic learning, lots of vocational
training and at the end of second year they come out with a certified job at hand. The question
that props up here is that why is it that a 1.2 billion populated country have a shortage of smaller
jobs, primary education and the rest basic stuff that should be there. So to answer is that if they
show excellent academic training, they can go up to an university but if not then they leave with
a certificate and go off to a useful trade in the society that is craving for such skills.Gainful
employability is the key.
These are the kind of changes that the state is trying to bring. But this is a change the state alone
cannot do. We need research and innovation.
Research- The state wants to double the amount of money to 1% of the GDP to 2%, which is not
helping, so innovation is required and new ways of thinking a must. Learning to think out of the
box and learning to create.
Innovation- India invented the world's cheapest cardiogram (EAG), cheapest insulin injection
and the cheapest car i.e. TATA Nano.

17. We need to do things others haven't done before. The thought of "zero" transformed the global
mathematics and mind it we were the inventors.
With 17% of the world's brain, why is it that we have only 2.8% of the world research output
coming out of our country? The answer is as difficult as the question but by doing nothing it can
be even more brutal so lets work hard and try our level best to get out of the mess created in the
first place.
Now we move onto the next section, which deals with the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship. Here we would understand the situation by which the ministry would be
functioning and making skill India a success.
Mission
Skill development and entrepreneurship efforts across the country have been highly fragmented
so far. As opposed to developed countries, where the percentage of skilled workforce is between
60% and 90% of the total workforce, India records a low 5% of workforce (20-24 years) with
formal vocational skills. There is a need for speedy reorganization of the ecosystem of skill
development and entrepreneurship promotion in the country to suit the needs of the industry and
enable decent quality of life to its population.

18. Today, more than 20 Ministries/Departments run 70 plus schemes for skill development in the
country. However, there are gaps in the capacity and quality of training infrastructure as well as
outputs, insufficient focus on workforce aspirations, lack of certification and common standards
and a pointed lack of focus on the unorganized sector.
Vision
Based on the mandate under the Allocation of Business Rules and taking into account the
requirements of multiple stakeholders, the following four outcomes to be achieved have been
identified:
 Ensure youth emerging from formal education are employable with job or self-
employment oriented skills
 Ensure people stuck in low income jobs and in the unorganised segments can access
growth opportunities through up-skilling / re-skilling and Recognition of Prior Learning
(RPL)
 Improve supply and quality of the workforce for industry, contributing to increased
productivity
 Make skilling aspirational for youth
To achieve these outcomes, a framework built on five central pillars representing the core
requirements for skilling has been conceived by the Ministry – to create a pipeline of skilled
people, correct supply for demand, certify global/common standards, connect supply with
demand and catalyse entrepreneurship. These five pillars will be supported by cross-cutting
enabling measures.
Common norms and metrics on inputs, outcome measures and funding for skill development
schemes across Central Ministries/Departments are being developed by the Ministry. Skill gap
studies for all high priority sectors including key manufacturing sectors under Make in India
have also been initiated. Support to States has been extended via the State Skill Development
Mission through funding and technical support to ramp up capacity and improve standards of
skilling at the State level.

19. A number of other initiatives such as collaborating with other nations to adopt international best
practices, revamping the vocational education framework in the country, partnering with
corporates, leveraging public infrastructure for skilling, creating a pipeline of quality trainers and
leveraging technology for skill training, are being pursued by the Ministry.
As there is a set plan on how to go on executing the idea of skilling India, our future seems to
look bright.
This section would make a jump to the initiatives taken out by the Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship i.e. NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) and its two branches
namely, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and UDAAN. All above will help
me substantiating the work in progress regarding skill development in the country.

20. The National Skill Development Corporation, (NSDC) is a Public Private Partnership
in India, under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Its aim is to promote skill
development by catalyzing creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions. It is
set up as a part of the National Skill Development Mission to fulfill the growing need in India for
skilled manpower across sectors and narrow the existing gap between demand and supply of
skill. Under NSDC there are two schemes that focus on skill development. Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana and Udaan. PMKVY focuses skill development in India and Udaan
focuses only on Jammu and Kashmir. As we go further we will see how this concept of skill
development came into picture and what kind of an impact it has made and how will it affect
India in shaping a better future.
VISION
The vision of NSDC is a compelling need to launch a world-class skill development programme
in a mission mode that will address the challenge of imparting the skills required by a growing
economy. Both the structure and the leadership of the mission must be such that the programme
can be scaled up quickly to cover the whole country.
MISSION

21. The mission of NSDC is to upgrade skills to international standards through significant industry
involvement and develop necessary frameworks for standards, curriculum and quality assurance.
It focuses to enhance support and coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development
through appropriate Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models. NSDC plays the role of a "market-
maker" by bringing financing, particularly in sectors where market mechanisms are ineffective or
missing.
BACKGROUND
NSDC is a not-for-profit company set up by the Ministry of Finance, under Section 25 of the
Companies Act. It has an equity base of Rs. 10 crore, of which the Government of India holds
for 49%, while the private sector has the balance 51%. To ensure superior decision-making, the

22. NSDC requires a structure and governance model that provides it with autonomy, stature and
continuity. Thus, the organisation has a tiered decision-making structure comprising:
 National Skill Development Fund (NSDF)
 The Board of Directors
 Board Sub Committees
 Executive Council.
Each has a clear-cut role in NSDC’s operations, activities and strategy to facilitate the
organisation’s mandate of coordinating and stimulating private sector skill development
programmes with enhanced flexibility and effectiveness. The 15-member board has six
government nominees, one of whom is the chairman of the corporation (from the private sector)
and nine are private sector members.

23. On the other hand Udaan is completely focussed towards Jammu and Kashmir. The sole purpose
of this project is to generate employment in the state and make the citizen of the state aware of
such kind of an initiatives which is mainly taken out to benefit them and make their future
secure.
Under the special industry initiative of the Prime Minister, the NSDC and the Ministry of Home
Affairs have been mandated to work with the corporate sector in bringing about a positive
change in the employment and skill space in Jammu and Kashmir. The special industry initiative,
known as UDAAN targets to employ the youth of Jammu and Kashmir, specifically, graduates
and post-graduates, who are seeking local and global opportunities. Udaan aims to provide skills
to 40000 youth over a period of 5 years in high growth sectors.
There are 2 objectives for Udaan-
 To provide exposure to graduates and post-graduates of J&K to the best of corporate in
India
 To provide corporate India with exposure to the rich talent of pool available in the state.

24. These two objectives actually link the gap between J&K to India’s corporate companies and
expose the youth who are seeking opportunity to make something substantial for them. The
linking of the gap is also an important thing because it will help J&K catch the corporate heads
attention and remain aligned to the Nation’s philosophy of inclusive growth and integration.
This last segment of my research paper would focus on the situation of entrepreneurship in the country.
How many people are venturing into entrepreneurship and what exactly is the situation of the venturing
capital?
How entrepreneurship is going to help in job creation

25. Focus has to shift now from white collared jobs to blue collared jobs, since manufacturing has to drive
the Indian growth story now. Make in India is an example. Vocationalization is a long time requirement
of education which has always been neglected. India's vast unorganised sector needs to be somehow
brought into the mainstream through skill development. Entrepreneurship development is the next stage
of skill development and unless the latter is achieved, the former cannot come through. 12 weeks of
skilling can give someone a job while 12 years of education, though laudable credits cannot. Industry
placement of skilled youth is another area of concern. We lack a credible study on actual requirement for
skilled labour.
In the end, we need to think like that again. With 17% of the world's brain, why is it we have
only 2.8% of the world research output coming out of our country? Perhaps we need to start from
our classrooms, students should not have their heads only filled with textbook material, facts and
teachers lectures. It should be a well-informed mind but in the era of Google, we can find out
anything with a click of the mouse, what we do need is a well-informed mind. A mind that reacts
to unfamiliar details, the information that the mind has not studied before, a mind, in other
words, can react to the bigger examination called "LIFE" which doesn't only give you the things
you are prepared for but prepares you for every unexpected hurdle that one doesn't tend to think
and for this to happen one needs a mind that is shaped by original thinking. A mind that doesn't
just ask "WHY" but "WHY NOT". The point being "out of the box" thinking. How can one think
out of the box? One can think familiar objects, which can be thought of in ways they haven't
been thought before and that way we can learn and move forward in the world.
But saying is easier said than done, challenges are enormous. We have to become literate. Being
literate means having an educated mind that thinks out of the box. 95% of our 12 yr. old can read
and write so our future looks good and if we get all of the pieces together, we can say to the
world that we are coming.
While the Government and the Public Private Partnership and the Five year Plans do their bit in
educating, skilling, empowering, bringing the youth into the mainstream, making them ready for
the challenges of the future and the opportunities which are associated with it through their
honest efforts of “PMKRY” and “UDAAN”. As a humble student, I feel that we, students, too

26. have an enormous responsibility in bringing India into the focus of the International arena. We
should all pledge to utilize every opportunity in skilling India. They say charity begins from
home and here I have a washer man’s family whose kids don’t go to any school. Can I do
something to skill them, make them a proud, productive and enabled citizen of India? Yes I can
and will.
I end this paper by quoting the famous lines of Robert Frost:
“Woods are lovely dark and deep but
I have promises to keep and
Miles to go before I sleep and
Miles to go before I sleep.”
Ruchit Mohan
20141341
JGLS 2014-2019
B.A.LLB
Ruchit Mohan