Youth welfare and development is a critical factor in the growing economy like India. India has taken various efforts at various levels (both national and regional) to promote youth development, health, education, and socio-cultural reformation. Actionable plans have been laid out for skill and all-round development: training to the youth, underprivileged.

The youth of India is an untapped potential. As per the government census, one in every third person in the country is under the age of twenty-four. However, majority of the youthdoes not access to exposure to basic education, nutrition, or the skills required for their livelihood development. Youth constitute a major proportion of the rural and semi urban workforce; however, onlyless than 82% possess any market-ready skills.

This is further deepened by the large disconnect between the demand and supply of marketable skills and resource in India. Youth from underprivileged societies and communities do not have formal exposure to vocational, technical, or professional skill due to lack of awareness, financial crisis or poverty, and lack of understanding of the job market.

As projected by the Census of India 2011, the working-class age-group will be up to 71% of the total population by 2025. To unleash the potential of this large community and to increase their employability quotient, specialized skill development is critical.

In India, more than a quarter of the people live below the poverty line. The need for economic improvement is of utmost importance. The country’s youth hold the key—unfortunately only 2 in 5 economically active youth are either unemployed or working yet living under the poverty line. As of 2014, 73.3 million youth in India are unemployed, which accounts for 36.7% of the global unemployment rate—highest for any Asian country.

Youngsters living in these underprivileged communities lack employment opportunities due to the lack of skills needed to perform in an ever-demanding job market. Skill development and vocational training needs to be aligned for improved employment opportunities via proper skill deployment for the underprivileged youth across sectors. In India, the underprivileged youth’s lack of relevant skills and a growing gap between supply and demand in the job market has resulted in extremely poor employability and wages. In India, to ensure sustainable economic and social development, imparting basic education and training to underprivileged youth becomes mandatory.

Investment in skills and employability of workers contributes to an improvement in overall development, productivity, and job-ready competitiveness. However, many destitute youths are not getting the basic needs met like vocational education and skill, which leads them to illiteracy, poverty, and insufficient nutrition. The government has emphasized on the basic education, training, and skill development programs to the underprivileged youth for a better quality of life and satisfaction.