Indian youths face the highest incidence of unemployment, which too has been increasing over the years. They continue to be socially and economically vulnerable as about one-third of the employed youths are still working as casual wage laborers. Although the opportunities for regular wage employment have increased for them somewhat, this has not happened at the desired rate. Every third youth among ten employed youths is a member of the working poor class. The prevalence of low quality of employment, particularly among the SCs, STs has created a vicious circle of low-productivity occupations, poor remunerations, and the limited ability of the family to invest in education and healthcare, which dampens the overall prospects for both development and growth. A positive feature of this situation, however, has been the phenomenon of an increasing proportion of youths studying in educational institutions.

However, this transition in favor of education is not uniform across social groups, thereby leading to a widening of the gap among them in terms of their participation in both work and education. The likelihood of ST, SC, and OBC-Muslim youths continuing their education is significantly lower than that of their counterparts in the OC group. The challenge, therefore, is to create a large number of remunerative employment opportunities with adequate social security for both youths as well as others in the coming years. This would necessitate an increase in investment in the labor-intensive sectors, especially in the industrially backward and remote areas. It is thus imperative to intensify policy initiatives to promote enterprise development, particularly among SCs/STs, in a big way. For this purpose, the finances earmarked under the special component plan for SCs and STs can be used along with other sources.

Another major challenge is to improve the educational development of youths. As has been seen earlier, education significantly enhances the probability of getting better jobs. Therefore, efforts need to be made to ensure the higher transition of youths to vocational and technical education, and also to higher education. Although the measures towards educational development of SCs/STs such as the grant of scholarships and free uniforms, provision of coaching for competitive examinations, and imposition of reservation in educational institutions have improved their participation in education at various levels, these measures need to be strengthened further. An alarming aspect of the educational development of youths is the increasing deficit of quality education and skill training. Public educational institutions, at both the school and higher levels, also need to be strengthened and made accountable for their quality and relevance. Private educational and training institutions, on the other hand, need to be monitored closely for the quality of teaching they offer, and their fee structures. The current measures of skill development under the National Skill Development Mission need to be pegged up in a big way in order to address the skill shortages being faced by the Indian industry. Unlike in the past, today’s youths are more informed and keen to be a part of the IT revolution. They are justifiably asserting their concerns for a decent and dignified life. Politicians and policy-makers must, therefore, come forward in a big way to facilitate the

overall development of youths in the country and to ensure decent employment opportunities for them.