A Project Proposal

On
Empowerment of rural youth: a feasibility study of starting a skill
development centre in Sangem Mandal

Submitted by: Kotha Abhinay Kumar

I M.B.A.
Regd. No. 17462
Dept. of Management and Commerce
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Puttaparthi, and Andhra Pradesh, India-515134.
Guided by: Sri Vivek Kapoor
Contents
1. TOPIC ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Research objectives .............................................................................................................................. 3
4. Literature review................................................................................................................................... 3
4.1. MY IDEA......................................................................................................................................... 5
4.2. Contents of my idea ...................................................................................................................... 6
4.3. Some other key initiatives of the government as follows ............................................................ 6
4.4. Some of the measures taken by private companies ..................................................................... 7
5. Methodology and data analysis ............................................................................................................ 8
6. Time estimate ....................................................................................................................................... 8
7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 9
8. Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 9
1. Topic

Empowerment of rural youth: a feasibility study of starting a skill development center in

sangem Mandal

2. Introduction

Farming in sangem Mandal and villages around it is the main source of income for most of the
masses. But there is a setback in the recent past and a lot of decrease in the income levels of
these people, making them more vulnerable and they are having a very less economic power,
due to which the next generations are suffering. And they are unable to provide good
education for their children. On the other side of the coin there are new methods of farming
like hi tech farming and very rich farmers in some places of the country but in my place there
are heavy pressures on farmers like debt and their families to take care with very small land
holdings and the problems of the change in climatic conditions. And because of uneven rainfall
there are multiple crop failures further making the farmers life more miserable.
I personally feel the youth who are self-employed will have the power to empower the rural
areas and they can create their own jobs apart from continuing in the field of farming. If we can
impart the vocational and professional training to this rural youth for their skill development
the employment opportunities can be created in the village itself, thereby reducing dependency
on farming and people will look for some sort of self-employment.

3. Research objectives

1. To study the existing skill development centers in India

2. To study and understand the existing skill development schemes / initiatives started by
the government which will help the rural people
3. To create a large talent pool through vocational training
4. To up skill the technological talent of the rural youth
5. To help and motivate the rural youth towards self-employment

4. Literature review

There are not many papers or the exact information available on my topic, there is a huge gap,
with the help of my research I try to bridge this gap.
The key words used in this particular search were
1. Empowerment
2. Skill development
 3. Vocational training
4. Youth
5. Rural development
6. Skill gap
7. Employability
8. Labor force
Which helped narrow down the search to the required articles
My search began with a strong urge to understand exactly what is skill development and how it
will be helpful to rural youth and most importantly first of all why rural empowerment.
Actually my understanding about the topic is that, there are many rural people who are in their
prime ages I.e. Young age, because of various reasons they are not getting proper education. if
we can provide some guidance and help them to develop their skill sets like

 Motors repairing
 Winding works
 Basic household electric repairs
 Carpentry works
 Tailoring
 Basic computer education
 Making of handicrafts
 Farm equipment repairs
 Education on best farm practices
 And some career guidance to youths
I feel all these comes under empowerment of youth. We should help them to understand the
need for skill development and the benefits of skill development.
If we can do this, then I personally feel that we will be doing a great job because we showed
them the path for self-employment thus making them independent and making their life’s
comfortable by providing them a decent living.
India is the second largest country in terms of population. It is known for its size and diversity.
The factors like labor force, employment, education and training, impact on every aspect of life.
so we can conclude that education (it includes many things like giving some knowledge to a
farmer about the modern methods of agriculture and reasons for crop rotation or giving some
guidance to a particular set of rural people on health awareness and cleanliness or some career
guidance to youths) is the most important aspect of life, which also plays a great role in nation
building.
Basically skill development is a process of identifying a skill gap in a person and trying to bridge
it by giving him required strength and confidence and necessary resources.
In India there is an upward trend in the growth of industries because of many reasons, but
there is a shortage of skilled labor in the country, therefore it is necessary to focus on the
youths to improve upon their skill sets.
“As compared to western economies where there is a burden of an ageing population, India has
a unique 20–25 years’ window of opportunity called the “demographic dividend.” This
“demographic dividend” means that as “compared to other large developing and developed
countries, India has a higher proportion of working age population about its entire population”.
The rapid economic growth has increased the demand for skilled manpower that has
highlighted the shortage of skilled manpower in the country. “India is among the top countries
in which employers are facing difficulty in filling up the jobs. The key reasons in finding a
suitable candidate for available jobs in the country are lack of available applicants, shortage of
hard skills and shortage of suitable employability, including soft skills.” (Brar & amandeep, Skill
Development in Higher Education: Trends and Issue, 2015)

This particular paper by (Brar & Amandeep, Skill Development in Higher Education: Trends and
Issue, 2015) tells us that there is a lot of demand and opportunities for skill development in
India and moreover there is an observed shift that it is slowly moving from a welfare based
approach to just a demand driven approach. Because of this the government will be playing a
key role in developing skills of the youth in the country by giving it complete priority. And the
government has “doubled the allocation of funds for skill development under the national skill
development fund by INR 10 billion rupees in the budget 2012-2013 and the total corpus has
been increased to INR 25 billion rupees” (Brar & amandeep, Skill Development in Higher
Education: Trends and Issue, 2015)

4.1. MY IDEA

5 KM away from my place i.e. SANGEM village, the Telangana state government is planning to
open a mega textile park named KAKATIYA TEXTILE PARK by 2020. For which it has already
procured 2000 acres of land and laid a foundation stone 3 months ago. It is known that after
agriculture the textile industry is the largest employer. “ It is predicted that the total workforce
will be around 60 million by 2022”. (SKILL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND MEASURES IN INDIA
- A STUDY REPORT , 2013 NOVEMBER)
The state government has said that this mega textile park includes textiles, apparels, jute
products and handicrafts. I take it as an added advantage to me, my village and the people
around it because this project will be providing employment to thousands of people either
directly or indirectly.
Here, my objective of starting a skill development centre in my Mandal comes to picture where
I do it in a step by step process in which I tell to the youth about the government’s proposal and
help and train them with all sorts of skills required.
So no need for my village people to wait till 2020. Till then they will be self-employed and starts
making money, once the government starts its operations, this trained bunch will go and work
under government.
 4.2. Contents of my idea

Once I start the skill development center I will name it as “SAI PRAGATHI KENDRA “, where
counselling will be given to the youth and all sorts of coaching will be given to the youths for
getting into government and non-government jobs. For income generation purposes the skills
like animal husbandry, organic farming, sewing, farming and also making of local crafts will be
taught apart from this basic computer education will be taught to the interested candidates. So
that they can work as data operators in village gram panchayats and in retail shops like big
bazar as billing operators.
It is an exploratory study I will think how to go about it and in future I will try to make it a
business plan and try to present to the state government and collaborate with it to train the
rural youth where I do service and at the same time I make money and empower the rural
youth.

4.3. Some other key initiatives of the government as follows

•” Establishment of new ITIs in underserved regions and the existing ITIs being upgraded to
centres of excellence to produce multi-skilled workforce of world standards
• Setting up more polytechnics in the PPP mode and 400 government polytechnics being
upgraded
• Expansion of vocational education from 9,500 senior secondary schools to 20,000 schools;
intake capacity to increase from 1 million to 2.5 million
• Establishment of 600 rural development and self-employment training institutes (RUDSETI)
• To set up a virtual skill development resource network linking 50,000 skill development
centres (SDCs)
• Skills training have been made more affordable by exempting vocational education institution
from paying service tax” (Brar & Amandeep, Skill Development in Higher Education: Trends and
Issue, 2015) to utilize the benefits of the demographic dividend India has it has to focus more
on its workers and it should empower the workers with the right type of skill sets.
Some statistics
 38% of the work force in India is illiterate
 25% of the workforce in India has education below primary
 36% of the workforce has an education of middle or higher level
“Apart from this the percentage of Indian workforce which are not having any marketable skills
is at astounding 80%. Only about a minimum of 3% have formal skill training and only 8% have
no formal skill training compared to developed economies such has south Korea – 96% ,
Germany-75%, japan – 80%, and united kingdom-68%” . (SAINI, APRIL 2015)
Government should put this in mind and should explore the new methods and ways of
developing Indian youth’s skill set in very less time in order to make the best use of
demographic dividend and also to rise as an economic power.
Sonali Kanchan argues that “it is very difficult for India to enjoy the benefits of its demographic
dividend. And it is more looking like a fantasy than a reality because of a wide gap in terms of
quality and quantity of skilled workforce in India. India will be facing a demand of 500 million
skilled workers by 2022. But still it is struggling because, lack of supply skilled workforce.
currently only 2% of total workforce in India have undergone training. according to government
of India estimates 93% of the workforce employment is in the unorganised sector. and in our
education system no formal training for skill development is provided “ (Varshney, 2015)
And we should also put in mind that Indian economy is growing at a great pace which means
there will be much need for skilled workers. so this will act as nemesis for growth. so proper
initiatives should be taken by both government and private sectors in the country to empower
the skills.

(skill development Initiatives and measures in India , 2013)

4.4. Some of the measures taken by private companies

Some of the organizations are working in large numbers to enhance the skills of the people
among the weaker sections of the society
 Tata motors had an agreement with national skill development centre for the
development of skills in the automobile sector. The company identified some 5
government schools where skills will be taught to class 10 and 12 students. After
assessing the results of the pilot project, it is planning to scale it up.
 Bosch India is working with NSDC to achieve its objectives of developing a set of skilled
man power in India and it is also helping the trained youth to get jobs in their own
company itself and also it has a separate batch for girls.
 And there is also a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti, which had established
centres for skill development to train the youth for free of cost in retail skills to make
 them employable in a sector short of skilled manpower (Varshney, 2015)

I personally feel that in India gender also plays a key role in skill development because in most
parts of our country the girls are not allowed to work or study beyond some point in time in
their life’s. So we should work for removing these superstitions from people’s mind.
“When you educate a boy, you educate one individual, when you educate a girl you educate a
nation” – Larry summers
“Gender equality is the most essential thing in our country for women empowerment. The most
crucial thing for the empowerment of girls in India in both primary and secondary education is
gender gap. currently of all the developing countries in the world 50% achieved gender parity in
primary education, compared to a 20% secondary education and 8% in higher education” (khair
& abdihakim)

5. Methodology and data analysis

My study is mainly descriptive in nature and it is completely based on the secondary data
available in the internet. My study will mainly focus on basic contemporary education with
respect to skill development of youth in my village and I am going to follow a case study based
approach and a direct interview with the rural youth and the farmers of the village. Based on
their feedback I will try to improve the idea and the way I am going to start a skill development
center.

6. Time estimate

Event date
Project proposal 10-02-2018
RMM assignment 16-02-2018
Studying of available literature 16-03-2018
LR presentation to the guide 21-03-2018
Discussion about model building with the 27-03-2018
guide
Development of models 16-04-2018 to 30-05-2018
Theoretical Background 30-07-2018
Data Analysis 31-08-2018
Typing of the project 1-10-2018
Initial review 10-11-2018
Final review 15-12-2018
submission 20-12-2018
 7. Conclusion

If we combine both the urban and rural areas workforce in India there are about 80 % of the workforce
not having any marketable skills which is a serious issue to think about it. Therefore, there is an urgent
need to bride this gap with the help of various skill development strategies and initiatives and also it can
make India a global hub for skilled workforce. To make this happen it is only in the hands of the youth of
the country so our youth especially rural people should be educated and empowered with formal
education and vocational training.

Finally, with all the pros and cons taken into consideration I definitely feel that a skill development
center is feasible in my village. Hence it is an explorative study I will try my level best to implement the
best practices which are followed in other skill development center’s in other places. Hence this will help
me in eradicating poverty from my village through a strong focus on skilling the youth and providing
employment to rural youth and finally skill building is equal to nation building.

8. Bibliography

Brar, K. K., & amandeep. (2015). Skill Development in Higher Education: Trends and Issue. International
Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology.

Brar, K. K., & Amandeep. (2015). Skill Development in Higher Education: Trends and Issue. International
Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology.

khair, r., & abdihakim, n. (n.d.). womens empowerment.

SAINI, V. (APRIL 2015). SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: NEED, CHALLENGES AND WAYS FORWARD.
Abhinav National Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in Arts & Education.

(2013). skill development Initiatives and measures in India . INDIAN BRAND EQUITY FOUNDATION .

(2013 NOVEMBER). SKILL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND MEASURES IN INDIA - A STUDY REPORT .
INDIAN BRAND EQUITY FOUNDATION.

Varshney, S. K. (2015). Skill development initiatives and strategies. ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH Online Open Access publishing platform for Management Research, 5(4).