ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN SKILL INDIA

Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality in a country likeIndia. It is the key to enhanceIndia’s competitiveness in the global economy.  The linkage between higher education and national development is so strong that it has been widely believed that the nation does well so long as everything is well with the institutions of higher learning. In fact skilled manpower and a steady supply of knowledgeable and trained workforce are the prerequisites for rapid industrial and economic growth. Indiahas gradually evolved as a knowledge-based economy due to availability of capable, flexible and qualified human capital.Indiahas immense opportunities to position itself on the world globe, thanks to the rising influence of globalization.  However, there is a need to further develop and empower the human capital to ensureIndia’s global competitiveness. Indiais an agro based country with wealthy natural resources.  This is where our Indian Higher Education and Scientific Research should concentrate on and give importance to these aspects while developing the curriculum in Indian Universities.  The academic programs in Higher Education should therefore include scientific and technological methods and procedures to develop rural economy, exploiting the natural resources available in plenty in the ruralIndia.  Higher Education should offer programs for the empowerment of rural youth, men and women.  This approach will transform Indian population as effective human resources empowering them will knowledge and skill.Indian Industry and policy makers have realized the fact that India is facing a skill and knowledge crisis, giving rise to the formation of the National Policy on Skills Development. The policy envisions the establishment of a National Skill Development Initiative which will empower all individuals through improved skills, knowledge, nationally and internationally recognized qualifications to gain access to decent employment and ensure India’s competitiveness in the global market.  In the year 2008, a Coordinated Action on Skill Development with three-tier institutional structure consisting of PM’s National Council, National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was created, which laid the institutional foundations for a more proactive role of public and private sector interactions and interfaces for harnessing the benefits of the demographic dividend