Prelims: Current events of national and international importance| Indices and reports
Why in News?
The report 'Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047', flags women’s participation in the workforce as a key challenge for India’s ambition of becoming a developed country.
- Released by – NITI Aayog.
- Highlights –
- Skilling alone is not sufficient unless skills translate into sustained employment and economic participation.
- Women’s participation is identified as a major challenge to India’s developed-country goal by 2047.
- Key finding – Only around 3% of women are in formal jobs.
- Around 71% of women are either in informal work or in the NEET category.
- Barriers faced by women – These includes
- Caregiving responsibilities
- Lack of safe transport
- Safety concerns
- Limited mobility
- High cost of training
- Limited access to finance
- Lack of flexible work
- Social and family constraints
- Many women therefore prefer home-based self-employment, but face difficulties in accessing capital, markets and greater autonomy.
India's skilling landscape
- More than 7.67 crore people have been trained since 2014–15.
- The report argues for shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach to targeted skilling based on the needs of different learner and worker groups.
- Around 54.9% of Indians were outside the labour force .
- In the non-agricultural workforce, around 7 crore people receive at least one social-security benefit, while 27 crore receive none.
- Measures proposed for women – “Back to School” – use schools as safe spaces for women to upskill/reskill.
- “Surakshit Saathi” – proposed PPP-based hostels and transport facilities for women.
- Greater access to finance and affordable training.
- Promotion of flexible and safe employment opportunities.
- System-wide reforms – Digital Lifelong Learning Accounts/Skill Passports – portable records of skills and credentials.
- Greater adoption of the National Credit Framework (NCrF).
- Skills-first hiring.
- Outcome-based financing for learner support.
Reference
The Print| Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047 report
