Skill Development Programmes in India – A Literature Review

India is recognized as one of the youngest nations in the world with over 50% of the population under 30 years. It is estimated that by about 2025, India will have the 25% of the total global workforce (World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2012). Hence, there is a need to further develop and empower the human capital to ensure the nation‟s global competiveness. As far the economic progress of our country is concerned, India is still lagging behind due to various problems like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, medical infrastructure etc. Youth plays a crucial role in achieving economic prosperity of the country. In the present scenario, it is found that most of the youth being educated are facing severe unemployment problem due to lack of skills and technical knowledge. Most of them are unaware of the developments taking place in the modern world. The present paper is based on the secondary data which was collected from different researches. The study focused on the skill development programmes implemented in India. This study is to investigate the existing literature for the skill development programmes and leveraging the demographic proportion in India by making them more skilled and employable. This literature survey is to review the various initiatives taken by Government of India, programmes conducted through public and private partnership, ways to increase the employability skills, challenges faced for the success of the programme, etc. The study also discusses about the skills imparted through educational programmes and requirement of additional sector specific courses. Hence, the paper will highlight the needs, challenges and scope of the skill development programmes.