President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that India, with the second largest population in the world, will face a major challenge in the coming years.

Half of its population will be below 25 years of age and the young workforce will be an asset if they have jobs. But, if the country is unable to provide jobs, there will be unrest and frustration.

Addressing the annual day celebration of CII Chhindwara Skill Training Centre at Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, president Mukherjee said that to get jobs, paper qualifications alone will not suffice. Skills are essential.

Our universities and colleges produce a large number of graduates every year but most of them are unemployable. Our youth need jobs. On the other hand, our industry has problems finding adequate skilled manpower: a press release quoted the president as saying.

The president said economic growth in the advanced countries of the world, most of whom have ageing populations is low. Emerging economies like India and China are, however, witnessing rapid economic growth. We must therefore seize this opportunity by encouraging skill development in every way possible.

He said the National Skill Development Council was created in 2010 to address this challenge. The present government went on to create a Ministry for Skill Development in 2014 to provide focused attention to the need for large scale skill development.

He added that skill development will help create jobs, strengthen the resilience of the Indian economy, help increase the contribution of the services sector to the GDP and expand the flow of remittances into India from our workers overseas.