Future job creation rests heavily on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at village and neighbourhood levels to thrive. Subroto Bagchi, Chairman of the Odisha Skill Development Authority opines that discussions around the impact of new age technologies on Indian industry such as AI and robotics can wait given the perilous situation of unemployable youth made up of a large number of school drop-outs. Stressing on this dire problem he adds that the Odisha government embarked on a skill development mission to boost employability for 1.1 million people between 2014 and 2019, of which 80 per cent had left the formal schooling system with no intention of going back.
What does a skills training programme, for instance in a local Industrial Training Institute (ITI) mean for these youth? What role can local small-scale entrepreneurship and ‘nano unicorns’ play towards real economic progress? Dignity of labour is a serious roadblock to India’s urgent need for skilling. How far can Right to Skill help? To find out more, read here.
