Why is Upskilling Required for Youth in Rural Areas?

Approximately 60% of India's workforce is engaged in agriculture, contributing around 20% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) while serving as the primary catalyst for the rural economy. Employers will need to devise effective strategies to harness human potential in the evolving workplace of the future, spurred by the rapid technological advancements over the past decade. These advancements have intensified job losses due to skill shortages and the increasing substitution of human cognitive abilities by artificial intelligence. The best way to accomplish this is by educating people, imparting new knowledge, and upskilling them for these "jobs of tomorrow," particularly the rural young who make up around 67–68% of the nation's population. The government has promised that the key to addressing the issue of development in both the agricultural and non-farm job sectors is the training of rural youth. To tackle the significant obstacles confronting the labor market today, governments must create a unified plan that guarantees a comprehensive collaboration between skill suppliers, workers, companies, and education providers.   The Entrance of AI-focused Services:  The emergence of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized businesses and the nature of employment. But this change also comes with a number of difficulties, especially when it comes to the talent gap and the uptake of technology. Both in urban and rural regions, automation and artificial intelligence have already had a major influence on the labor market. However, the lack of access to high-quality education and training options frequently presents additional problems for India's rural young. With the development of AI, it is imperative to close this skills gap and provide young people everywhere opportunities to engage in the digital economy.  Being connected is not the only factor in closing the digital divide. It necessitates an all-encompassing strategy that includes infrastructure development, skill-building programs, and digital literacy that are customized to the particular requirements and goals of young people, link them to market demands, and close awareness gaps. In order to engage and reach young people, mobile technology might be quite important. Mobile-based learning applications and interactive platforms may be created to provide skill development content in regional languages, given the growing use of smartphones in rural India. Youth involvement and retention may be boosted by using gamification approaches to make learning more engaging and participatory. The Process of Vocational Training: Reskilling and Skilling ;  The New Education Policy 2020, which gradually incorporates vocational education into all schools and higher education institutions over the next ten years, is a big and very welcome move toward eliminating this skill gap. The majority of the workforce (70%) comes from rural India; if we can encourage them to pursue vocational training and give them that training during their school years, we will have made significant progress in producing a skilled and trained labor force. Giving India's youth the proper skills at the right time to prepare them for the future would not only change their own lives but also accelerate the country's overall growth trajectory!