Skill India is the concrete plan. It is supposed to cover everything regarding the aspect of labour training. Like we discussed this comes from the larger spending going towards the ITIs and more importantly great cohesiveness and joint-integration with the private industry requirements (from what I have heard). But the real results will only be seen in a couple years time. This years budget will apparently have a really big MSME focus so I expect there to be more policy directive on it...or shortly after the budget. We shall see.
Not enough progress on Education reforms. This will be the main thing to watch out for this year. There has been a marked increase in rural school participation through various programs....but we will have to see either consolidated increase in budget allocation to primary and secondary schools....or something along the lines of a voucher system so greater private school education can reach more.
Actual changes in school teaching and teaching quality will need to come with time....its not all bad, but quite variable. This is a problem in most countries of Asia...even rich ones (rote learning instead of greater creative thought learning). For manufacturing type jobs, its not so important as effective reach and adequate quality and retention....but nonetheless there must be more avenues available to select the brightest minds and have a system in place to properly nourish them at the very least.
The good news regarding this govt in education is they are aggressively pushing through a rating mechanism on reviewing schools and education programs in general. This would indicate they are serious about focusing on allocating the resources appropriately for public school education in the coming years to bring up to a certain minimum standard. There is also great decentralisation of funding...so states will have better control of their education financing and system. This is also very welcome as ill-managed states will be forced to adapt better methods and cannot blame the central govt as much as before....their feet will be held to the fire by their own populations. Indians are not willing to take the same excuses as before....I have seen this more and more on the ground....and thats the real big thing I am optimistic will bring long term change to the country. People have tasted success or seen success....they are not content to sit and be content and be satisfied. The only question is how long it will take...will it be half a generation? Less? A full generation?
I will be watching the budget session of parliament, the budget itself and policy directives this year....so lets see. They have built enough momentum and leverage up, its time to use it decisively.
