Skill injection needed for demographic dividend: President

Says 54% of population will be in working age group by 2030, will need skills in order to be employable

Reaping our 'demographic dividend' needs injecting of skills in the Indian workforce, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday.

He said physical infrastructure, health and education were areas of concern for the economy. Reforms were a continuing process and “cannot be stopped”, he said, though there might be pauses or change of pace.

Addressing the 86th annual general meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce here, Mukherjee said allocation for spending on health had increased and physical expansion in education had taken place.

“We have 735 degree-giving universities, 35,000 colleges 16 IITs, 30 NITs and a number of institutes of management and also of high research and development in size. But, is also a fact that a large number of people are unskilled,” Mukherjee said.

“More than often we use the phrase that we are going to have a demographic dividend because by 2030, 54 per cent of the population will (still) be in the working age group. (But) this huge number of workforces, if they are to be provided suitable employment and their employability is to be increased, need skills,” he added.

Noting the Planning Commission estimate for investment in physical infastructure between 2012 and 2017 of $1trillion, asked where such a huge amount could come from. The private sector, clearly, had a big role, he said.

The ICC meet was also attended by Sushil Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar, and Arun Shourie, former Union minister for disinvestment and the northeast, in the opening session.