India should focus on improving its competitiveness: VP

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday stressed the need for India to focus on improving its global competitiveness index. He also said there was need to think beyond global skill supply and focus on creating more risk-taking entrepreneurs.

"In order to make India competitive in the skill and entrepreneurship arena, we must create an environment for entrepreneurship to thrive. This calls for a paradigm shift in the way we perceive skilling and entrepreneurship. Focus on scale, speed and quality are important," Naidu said.

Speaking at an event here, he said inculcating the spirit of entrepreneurship right from school age and empowering the youth to become job creators rather than job seekers required immediate attention.

The Vice President was speaking after inaugurating the National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) 2019 Conference on 'India's Changing Paradigm: Skills and Entrepreneurship for Global Competitiveness' here. Governor Vajubhai Vala and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa were among those who attended.

Naidu said the country can be justifiably proud of its achievements in global indexes in respect of milk production, remittance, and global retail development besides its below 10 ranking in areas such as renewable energy and Foreign Direct Investment- Confidence (8), but focus should be on improving its global competitiveness index.

"We need to collectively work towards eliminating inequalities in knowledge acquisition, close digital and gender gaps and intensify the efforts at skilling the youth on a war-footing.

Strong foundations must be laid to provide vocational and technical skills to rural youth. There is a need to have a good mix of formal education, off-the-job and on-the-job training," he added.

The Vice President said revamping the country's education system in a holistic manner from the primary school level to higher education with greater focus on academia-industry interaction and enhancing the component of vocational training were crucial for creating a skilled workforce.

"I do hope that the new education policy will address some of these issues. Education being on the concurrent list, central and state governments must work together in promoting vocation-based syllabus," he said.

He also urged the industry to play a bigger role in developing a highly-skilled manpower that would not only meet the requirements not only of India, but the globe as well.