NEP Policy 2015

National Policy for Skill Development -2015

Introduction

National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 supersedes the policy of 2009. The primary objective of this policy is to meet the challenge of skilling at scale with speed, standard (quality) and sustainability. It aims to provide an umbrella framework to all skilling activities being carried out within the country, to align them to common standards and link skilling with demand centres. In addition to laying down the objectives and expected outcomes, the policy also identifies the overall institutional framework which will act as a vehicle to reach the expected outcomes. Skills development is the shared responsibility of the key stakeholders viz. Government, the entire spectrum of corporate sector, community based organizations, those outstanding, highly qualified and dedicated individuals who have been working in the skilling and entrepreneurship space for many years, industry and trade organisations and other stakeholders. The policy links skills development to improved employability and productivity in paving the way forward for inclusive growth in the country. The skill strategy is complemented by specific efforts to promote entrepreneurship in order to create ample opportunities for the skilled workforce

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Landscape

One of the biggest challenges of skill development in our country is that 93% of the workforce is in informal/unorganised sector. Consequently it is difficult to map existing skills in the unorganised sector and gauge the skilling requirement in the sector. On the other hand, the rate of job growth in informal sector is estimated to be twice that in formal sector.

Women constitute almost half of the demographic dividend. The key challenge here is to increase their participation in the country’s labour force, which is directly linked to economic growth of the country. Census data has revealed that there has been a continuing fall in labour force participation rate of women from 33.3% to 26.5% in rural areas, and from 17.8% to 15.5% in 6 urban areas between 2004 and 2011. Mainstreaming gender roles by skilling women in non-traditional roles and increasing gender sensitivity in the workplace will have a catalytic effect on productivity and be a smart economic decision.

Job creation for skilled youth is also a major challenge before the nation. Entrepreneurship based on innovation has immense growth potential. However, the number of local entrepreneurs emerging every year in India is very low. The Global Innovation Index 2014 ranks India 76 out of 7 143 countries. Accelerating entrepreneurship especially that based on innovation is crucial for large-scale employment generation in India.

The growth and prosperity of all economies remains highly dependent on entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs are the essence of economic growth they provide a source of income and employment for themselves, create employment for others, produce new and innovative products 8 or services, and drive greater upstream and downstream value-chain activities . Supportive environments are increasingly essential to successful entrepreneurship and these are evolving across the world. The ideal entrepreneurial environment has five pillars: Access to funding, Entrepreneurial culture, Supportive regulatory and tax regimes, Educational systems that support entrepreneurial mindsets; and a coordinated approach that links the public, private and voluntary sectors.