Hyderabad: India has slipped to the 131st rank in the UNDP index of Human Development. Bhutan stood ahead of us with 129th rank in the index comprising a total of 189 countries. The UNDP ranking is supported by comparative data.
According to UNESCO, persons aged 15 or above having an educational qualification of intermediate or more are considered skilled workers. Based on that definition, Japan, Belarus, USA, Lithuania and Russia enjoy brilliant track record as countries having 95 percent of their population as skilled workers.
Beginning from Lithuania having a population of 27 lakh to the USA, having a population of 33 crores, all the advanced countries are forging ahead by treating skill development as human development.
The roots of India’s misfortune lie in the fact that only 1 in every five persons is a skilled worker here.
Several studies have indicated that our youth are lagging on the employability front. Studies also reveal that the percentage of skilled workers in the population is nominal.
Several countries which are in no way comparable with India in terms of the size of population and geographic area are far ahead of our country in terms of the number of employable candidates. This highlights the need for urgent course correction in terms of policies and planning.
While 97 percent of our children are getting admitted to primary schools, only 70 percent are reaching middle school level. Only 26 percent are able to reach higher education. This clearly demonstrates the fact that our younger generations are being deprived of skill development, proper education and livelihood.
Though the UNDP maintains that it does not have the data related to China, there was news sometime ago that almost half of the youngsters that have completed senior secondary school are flourishing as professionals in China. On the population front, India stands next only to China, as it is inhabited by 138 crore people. Around 62 percent of our country’s population is aged between 15 to 59 years. At present more than 50 percent of the country’s citizens are aged below 25 years. The inability to make the best use of the youthful energies of our young people is the principle reason behind India’s lag in progress. Managements of several organizations have been voicing protestations that they are unable to find sufficient number of workers with employable skills. On the other hand, we witness a spectacle where even post-graduates are standing in queue for menial jobs.
The NDA led Union government had launched ‘Skill India’ project with a pronounced objective of nurturing 40 crore people as skilled workers by the year 2022. The goal remains still too far. When compared with the States of AP, Telangana, Odisha and Tamilnadu, the number of beneficiaries under the Skill India project is insignificant in States like Himachal Pradesh, UP and Sikkim.
Crores of people were relegated to below the poverty line due to the impact of the crisis caused by the Covid pandemic. The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has stated that the unemployment rate has reached 9 per cent in rural areas and 11 per cent in urban areas. Experts are cautioning that crores of jobs would be requiring a new set of skills and the job nature would be changed beyond recognition by the year 2025. It is estimated that of the 80 crore unemployed persons that would emerge globally by the year 2030, a majority would be Indians.
Special emphasis on skill development and linking reforms with employment opportunities alone will help India wriggle out of this vicious circle.
India has slipped to the 131st rank in the UNDP index of Human Development. Bhutan stood ahead of us with 129th rank in the index comprising a total of 189 countries. The UNDP ranking is supported by comparative data.
According to UNESCO, persons aged 15 or above having an educational qualification of intermediate or more are considered skilled workers. Based on that definition, Japan, Belarus, USA, Lithuania and Russia enjoy brilliant track record as countries having 95 percent of their population as skilled workers.
Beginning from Lithuania having a population of 27 lakh to the USA, having a population of 33 crores, all the advanced countries are forging ahead by treating skill development as human development.
The roots of India’s misfortune lie in the fact that only 1 in every five persons is a skilled worker here.
Several studies have indicated that our youth are lagging on the employability front. Studies also reveal that the percentage of skilled workers in the population is nominal.
Several countries which are in no way comparable with India in terms of the size of the population and geographic area are far ahead of our country in terms of the number of employable candidates. This highlights the need for urgent course correction in terms of policies and planning.
While 97 percent of our children are getting admitted to primary schools, only 70 percent are reaching the middle school level. Only 26 percent are able to reach higher education. This clearly demonstrates the fact that our younger generations are being deprived of skill development, proper education and livelihood.
Though the UNDP maintains that it does not have the data related to China, there was news sometime ago that almost half of the youngsters that have completed senior secondary school are flourishing as professionals in China. On the population front, India stands next only to China, as it is inhabited by 138 crore people. Around 62 percent of our country’s population is aged between 15 to 59 years. At present more than 50 percent of the country’s citizens are aged below 25 years. The inability to make the best use of the youthful energies of our young people is the principle reason behind India’s lag in progress. Managements of several organizations have been voicing protestations that they are unable to find the sufficient number of workers with employable skills. On the other hand, we witness a spectacle where even post-graduates are standing in queue for menial jobs.
The NDA led Union government had launched ‘Skill India’ project with a pronounced objective of nurturing 40 crore people as skilled workers by the year 2022. The goal remains still too far. When compared with the States of AP, Telangana, Odisha and Tamilnadu, the number of beneficiaries under the Skill India project is insignificant in States like Himachal Pradesh, UP and Sikkim.
Crores of people were relegated to below the poverty line due to the impact of the crisis caused by the Covid pandemic. The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has stated that the unemployment rate has reached 9 per cent in rural areas and 11 percent in urban areas. Experts are cautioning that crores of jobs would be requiring a new set of skills and the job nature would be changed beyond recognition by the year 2025. It is estimated that of the 80 crore unemployed persons that would emerge globally by the year 2030, a majority would be Indians.
Special emphasis on skill development and linking reforms with employment opportunities alone will help India wriggle out of this vicious circle.
