India is on the threshold of a demographic dividend – a dividend that is waiting to be reaped. For this dividend to be meaningful however, education, the basic right to which is now guaranteed by the constitution of India, needs to be supplemented with a skill development strategy that can ensure gainful employment. Recognizing the importance of education in national development along with the employability of the youth to serve socio-economic cause and support the other economic development missions of the government of India, the 12th Five Year Plan has placed special emphasis on prioritizing skill training for the informal sector and developing appropriate skill sets among rural migrants and urban poor. The plan has set forth a target of creating 50 million additional non-farm job opportunities in manufacturing and service sector. 

The plan also targets to increase the percentage of workforce receiving formal training from present 10% to 25%. It also seeks to double the existing training capacity of 4.5 million to achieve the target of non-farm opportunities and also to improve access to formal training.