India has the technology, talent, and market space to become a top knowledge economy, Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan said on Sunday while addressing a conference on the side lines of the Third G20 Education Working Group Meeting in Bhubaneswar. He added that by 2047, India will have 25% of young population across globe only in the country itself.
“India is poised to become the job provider to the entire world. We don’t need degrees now, we need competency related to skilling to prosper globally. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which emphasizes on vocational education is a step towards this aim,” Pradhan said.
The Minister further said that there is a need to redefine the meaning of skilling which is limited to menial jobs. “We plan to bring a paradigm shift to create a future workforce which is technologically equipped and advanced. In three years time, you will see farmers in pant-shirt operating drones in their fields,” he said.
Furthermore, the Minister added that technology has left no life untouched. “Today there is no one unaffected by ChatGPT, while few years ago people couldn’t have imagined it as a reality. India is moving towards transforming its workforce with the help of technology,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Pradhan also inaugurated the Future of Work exhibition being put together under G20 presidency from April 23rd to 28th at CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The exhibition will act as a platform for technology leaders, influencers, and academia to showcase their perspectives and vision around the future of work.
The exhibit will feature institutes and organizations from diverse sectors including NIT Rourkela, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIM Sambalpur, Meta, UNICEF, NCERT and many more. More than 100 exhibitors from India and G2O member countries will demonstrate their products at the exhibition.