INDIA-GROWTH 2 LST

Ahluwalia said, "By the end of the XIth plan (2007-12),
we will restore back to the nine per cent growth trajectory.
About the Prime Minister's intent to achieve over 10 per
cent economic growth he said, "I am not saying that it is
easy. But the question arises which are the areas, which need
to be focused on. These are infrastructure and skill
development."
On the potential of the education sector in India, he
said, "Every year 8 million people are added to the workforce
in India and in the next 25 years, 250 to 300 million people
would be added to the workforce."
Besides he also pointed out the need for upgrading
skills of the existing 200 million workforce.
For the purpose, the government has created a National
Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for funding education
institutes built under the public-private partnership model
(PPP) with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore last year.
According to the Labour Ministry estimates there is a
huge skill deficit in the 20 high-growth industry sectors and
the unorganised sector.
The NSDC, funded by government and industries in the
ratio of 51:49, will train about 150 million people by 2022
to meet the growing demand for skilled workforce. PTI