India is passing through an unprecedented phase of demographic changes which is likely to contribute to an ever increasing size of the labour force in the country. The Census projection report shows that the proportion of population in the working age group (15-59 years) is likely to increase to more than 64% by 2021. In absolute numbers, there will be approximately 63.5 million new entrants to the working age group of 15-59 years between 2011 and 2016.

A population “bulge” in the working age groups is seen as an important advantage characterised as a “demographic dividend”. But the unemployment among rural youth (age 15-24 years) amounts to approximately 12 to 15% and substantiate number of them are just employed seasonally. Only 25 to 30% women in rural and 15 to 18% in urban areas are involved in the labour market revealing gender related limitations.

This highlights the need for the policy / specific program intervention to focus on youth in the labour force, particularly to reap the benefits of demographic dividend.

The policy engagement, research and evaluation studies around skill development and rural livelihood immensely contributed in developing vision and policy documents for the government.