Dharmendra Pradhan addresses need for skilled workforce

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday underlined the need for a skilled workforce for the Indian economy to match the continually rising population and said the government was determined towards shortening the gap between education and employment.

Speaking about the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry at the National Entrepreneurship Awards Programme, Pradhan said that the new department came into inception three years ago to train the workforce of the country.

"The challenge is India's current education system, as an Indian graduate does not necessarily get a job after completing his degree. The government is determined towards shortening that gap," Pradhan said.

Stressing on the skill development of the Indian workforce, Pradhan stated that a skilled labour in India might go out of job in this age of technology, hence the call for the need of a more organised ecosystem for skill training that is followed in advanced economies.

"It is the need of our economy to keep our workforce relevant if we want to ensure double-digit growth," Pradhan added.

To this end, the Government of India has focussed on promoting entrepreneurship which has proved successful after three years of work, said the Union Minister adding that around Rs. 4 lakh crore has been given through the Mudra Yojana to small-scale businesses, covering 9 crore beneficiaries.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also addressed the event, called for a shift from the conventional path in skilling the workforce, through professional training for specialised jobs.

Pointing out the surplus workforce of India owing to the rising population, Jaitley said there was a need for newer avenues of using the excess population as the best economic resource.

"A distinct feature of India's population is that we have more younger people, therefore we have more hands which could work. In most developed countries, the population is either stabilising or going down. That is not happening in India and therefore, advanced economies find it difficult to find people to service their economies, while we have a surplus that can work in India as well as outside," Jaitley said, and added that a large number of departments which have the ability to skill, and the companies which have the ability to take apprentice and skill them were where "we need to chisel this large human resource and prepare them for specialised jobs."

"As the economy grows, the need for such jobs over the next decade will be much larger," Jaitley said, elaborating on specialised jobs.

The finance minister reiterated Pradhan's emphasis on entrepreneurship and termed it as the strength of the Indian economy in future.

The National Entrepreneurship Awards Programme honoured individuals for their exceptional role in the field of entrepreneurship.