India has always been known for its traditional skills and arts. Despite technological innovation and mechanisation, our master artisans earn global respect simply because of the skills they possess. India is the only nation to celebrate ‘Visvakarma day’ every year, a celebration of which both the organised and unorganised sectors are a part. The confidence of artisans that there is no parallel to their skills is a result of the quality and finesse of their work. Can we extend this confidence to the entire Indian workforce, a workforce which shall, for the next 25 years, supplement global manpower deficit?

Till 2020, human resources will remain India’s most significant global advantage. In 2025, when the median age of the most developed nations would be around 43 — for example, 42.9 in Canada, 45.4 in Europe and 50 in Japan — India will have the youngest population with the median age at 31 years. It would provide the greying world what it most needs: a productive workforce.

With such a favourable demographic dividend and a global opportunity, India still struggles. India’s estimated labour force is 509.3 million, and there are 12.8 million new entrants each year. Over 70 per cent of the labour force is educated below the primary level. It is estimated that only 5 per cent of the youth are single skill vocationally trained compared to 96 per cent in Korea — or even 22 per cent in Botswana. Current vocational training infrastructure caters to just 2.5 million annually through the Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET) and other departments.

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