Enabling Skill Development for a Sustainable Future: A Case of India

Introduction

The world has been witnessing numerous unanticipated transformations not just in workspace but in an individual’s life. In Indian scenario, limited skill set for an individual or business operation act as a big hindrance. Businesses are forced to transform themselves to more technology driven, demanding and dynamic roles. One of the primary challenges by Indian businesses is the shortage of technical, specific and general employability skills. The skill deficit in the country has put skill development as an urgent national priority. With the advent of pandemic and rising technology intervention there is a raised anxiety among working group world across.

A well-educated population, equipped with the relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills is essential for economic and social development of any nation in the twenty-first century. Education is the most potent tool for socioeconomic mobility and a key instrument for building an equitable and just society. Education provides skills and competencies for economic well-being. India has a population of 1.3 billion at present, of which about 0.8 billion is of the working age. We generally boost of our demographic dividend as one of our strengths, but this strength is on the other hand the greatest challenge for the country. Irrespective of the large working population research by CII and its partners reveal that there is a huge gap in the quality of skills availability to that of the required. In fact for about 3/4th Indian businesses, one of the primary challenges faced is the shortage of technical, specific and general employability skills. The large working population of the country is both a strength and challenge as a number of researches reveal that there is gap in the quality of skills availability to that of the required.

The Schedule VII of the CSR Act, 2013 mentions skill development as one of the activities to be undertaken CSR. This has served as a catalyst for companies to invest in a number of opportunities in skill development through their CSR initiatives. It is in this context that the chapter attempts to share a larger picture of the skill development in a global front. An attempt has been made in identifying the workplace changes with special reference to Education, Information technology, Retail, Mining and Power Generation sector in Indian context. It is also attempted to share the existing skill gap in fulfilling the organization’s expectations and the strategies addressing the skill gap. The chapter also shares best practices in skill development and focus mainly on understanding the impact of such efforts. The chapter uses case study as a methodology and includes qualitative data analysis of impact interviews. The chapter uniquely attempts to share the policy, programs, outcomes and major road blocks especially in context to skill development in Indian scenario and how CSR drive has been instrumental in addressing the skill gap in India.