Skilling India

Book excerpt: The book focuses on the status of vocational education programs, challenges of achieving quality and attaining competitive excellence in a globalized socioeconomic order, and the role of government and industry in achieving these avowed goals. India’s transition to a knowledge-based economy requires a new generation of educated and skilled people. Its competitive edge will be determined by its people’s ability to create, share, and use knowledge effectively. A knowledge economy requires India to develop workers—knowledge workers and knowledge technologists—who are flexible and analytical and can be the driving force for innovation and growth. Developing skilled workers enhances the efficiency and flexibility of the labor market; skills bottlenecks are reduced, skilled workers are more easily absorbed into the economy, and their job mobility is improved. In this light, an effort is made in this book to describe and analyze governmental skill development initiatives in India. The book also dwells on the need to revive traditional family centric vocations pursued in the rural communities, especially those dying village-based vocations that provide livelihood options to a multitude of socially disadvantaged artisans, and integrate them into the fabric of skill development initiatives in place. The book provides a systematic understanding of the processes of skill formation and provides several pathways for enhancing entrepreneurial skills in a business ecosystem with a huge knowledge capital gained through skill development initiatives. Toward this end, the book seeks to contribute toward understanding the structures and processes of governance and initiatives for enhancing the quality of skilling programs. The book also dwells on various opportunities and challenges of augmenting a multitude of skilled workforces made available through various skilling initiatives and programs.