India has a young population, with 66% below the age of 35. Its billion-strong working age population has a huge potential for job creation and economic growth. Encouraged by its growth potential, global businesses want to invest in India and set up manufacturing plants. This trend was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the supply chain, offering India an opportunity to rival China as the world’s main manufacturing base. Nonetheless, a shortage of qualified labour deters new investment because there is an unprecedented workforce shortage. Companies are reporting challenges in finding qualified applicants with both technical and soft abilities; India is also facing a talent shortage.
What we need is to raise the level of skill training by adopting an industry-focused approach with strong links to employment. It is necessary to improve the social status of vocational education much as what happened with the IT profession. Mr Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, firmly believes that skill development of youth is critical to India’s economic competitiveness, and a ready pool of highly skilled workforce will be a catalyst for the nation’s progress.
With this aim, Adani Skill Development Centre (ASDC) was set up by the Adani Foundation to focus on skill development activities to contribute towards nation-building by bridging the gap between demand and supply in line with the Government of India’s Skill India Mission. Saksham is an ideology of ASDC to make India’s youth capable of achieving their goals in life by becoming skilled professionals. The aim is to provide world-class skill development training to the youth.
The Adani Family pledged to invest Rs 60,000 crore in social programmes like health, education and skills on the 60th birthday of Mr Adani. The Group believes that there’s a need to give skill development social and economic acceptance at all levels so that a vocational education graduate can earn on a par with university graduates like in developed countries. It is encouraging to note that India’s new policy initiatives also aim to address this issue.
In her message on the organisation’s website, the Foundation’s Chairperson Dr Priti Adani says, “It is our effort to train young people in India in contemporary, employable skills. We make an effort to connect with many facets of society, with a focus on women, marginalized groups, indigenous people, and young people from rural areas. Those who benefit from our centres are often first-generation workers venturing into the organized sector or perhaps entrepreneurship.”
More than 75 courses in digital literacy, nursing, tailoring, DTP, crane operation, etc., are offered at 40 ASDC centres across 26 cities.
