Skill Development in Rural India
By: Gaurav Agarwal
It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill.
Wilbur Wright
Introduction
“Skill India” is an initiative of the Government of India which aims to train individuals who seek to enhance their knowledge and skill to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities that can be engaging, productive, and self-esteem enhancing to empower the youth of the country with skill sets which make them more employable in their work environment. It has been undertaken by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and is aided by the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and 33 Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) as well as 187 training partners registered with NSDC.
The Focus on Rural Areas
The 2011 census shows that over 72.2% of the total population is distributed in over 6, 38, 000 villages, while the remaining 27.8% is spread over 5100 towns and cities. However, many issues still plague the villages of India such as poverty, water scarcity, malnourishment, lack of basic facilities, illiteracy, unemployment, anti-social elements etc. While many of these exist from time immemorial, unemployment seems to be the major threat in today’s scenario with the ever growing population. With more than 65% of India’s population under the age of 35 years, there is a plethora of labour power waiting to be deployed. Effective utilization of resources and availability of skilled individuals would help to ensure that the developmental activities go on at an unprecedented pace.
The Role of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is one of the most effective and efficient solutions to the unemployment issues at hand as well as ensuring the deployment of our vast pool of human resources. Also, it would play an important role in improving the living conditions of the poor masses. The need for the growth of rural industries has become essential to a country like India because of the following reasons:
- Rural industries, being labour intensive, generate large scale employment opportunities when allowed to grow and prosper.
- Rural industries are capable of checking rural urban migration.
- Rural industries help in improving the per capita income of the rural population, thereby, reducing the income disparity between of the rural and urban populace.
- Rural entrepreneurship checks the concentration of industries in urban areas and thus, promotes balanced regional growth of the economy.
- Rural entrepreneurship facilitates the development of roads, street lighting, drinking water etc. in the rural areas, so as to give them accessibility to the main market.
- Rural entrepreneurship can reduce poverty, growth of slums, and overcrowding of the cities.
Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, said that India’s strength lies in its villages. Rural areas contribute significantly to the overall growth and economic development of a country. The opportunity for India largely lies in the skilling of the youth in the country and the skill development in rural India is essential to ensure the equitable distribution of benefits of the development amongst all sections of the society. As responsible citizens, it is our duty to be a part of this mission.
