India is a vast country with a population of approximately 115
crore. 75% of India's population lives in about six lac
villages. There is a visible difference in rural and urban,
rich and poor, highly educated and lesser educated, forward
and backward areas. While resourceful people, particularly
those living in urban areas, have had access to better
education and professional training, but vast majority of
those who live in rural areas and slums are lesser
educated and hardly undergo any technical, professional and
vocational training. In fact, for most of such people, quality
education and higher technical and professional education is
unaffordable. In terms of career options, such lesser educated
and not so fortunate people tend to work in low paid
unorganized sector. Per person productivity of such persons
work out to be a small fraction of productivity of those who
work in organized sector of Indian economy. In an increasingly
competitive economic environment of our country, the
unorganized sector, which is so important for the country,
needs to increase the productivity of its manpower for its
survival and growth. Yet another paradox before the Indian
informal sector is that it can not afford employing highly
educated and professionally trained manpower which usually
aspires for highly challenging, rewarding and satisfying
career. The only option available before the Indian informal
sector is to depend upon relatively low paid manpower trained
through non formal system of skill development. There is,
therefore, an urgent need to train millions of persons every
year through a countrywide network of non-formal skill
development.
