Skilling India - Importance of skill development in India

1. Skilling India - Importance of skill development in India During his Independence Day speech in 2014, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi stated that “skill development” and “Skilling India” must be our mission if we are to promote our country’s development. Hundreds of millions of Indian youth should learn skills that will enable them to contribute to the modernization of India. He expressed his desire to create a pool of young people who are capable of creating jobs as well as assisting those who are unable to do so due to a lack of opportunities. Skilling India is important for two main reasons: 1. The growth of the service sector in India– The natural economic movement of a country goes from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy to a service economy but India has leapfrogged from an agrarian economy to a service economy. This remarkable feature of India’s recent growth is diversification into services, with the services sector dominating GDP increasing the importance of skill development in job creation. 2. India is a young nation– With more than 62 percent of the population in the working-age group (15-59 years) and more than 54 percent of the total population under the age of 25, India is now one of the world’s youngest countries. The labour force in the developed world is expected to decline by 4% over the next 20 years, while it will increase by 32% in India. However, only 2% of India’s total workforce have the career building skills. These skills are marked by the 5C’s, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Connection, and Critical thinking. With the rapidly emerging workplace where AI Artificial intelligence is threatening once-coveted job titles ranging from accounting to law the need for workplace success skills becomes crucial. They no more are good to have or soft skills but are the drivers of growth. Fundamentally, skilling, reskilling, and upskilling is the need of the hour to become future-ready and the choices that we make today will determine the quality of our beings tomorrow! The Changes is an Organization Development consulting firm that aims to build culture & competencies that are vital for success in today’s VUCA World. We enable corporates, campuses, and individuals to achieve business, functional and individual goals pan India.