Dehradun, Oct. 29 -- Everybody agrees that the only hope for India's still burgeoning population is self-employment, having missed the age of large-scale industrialisation. This is actually a blessing in disguise as employment potential in this sector is tapering off owing to automation and the growth of the service and IT sectors. The so-called demographic dividend that India enjoys is actually a misnomer because, while there are a large number of young people, their skills largely remain third-world, quite unsuitable for the needs of today.
This is partly due to a traditional disregard for intermediate levels of technical training provided in the ITIs and a fascination with the IITs. As the high-skill levels of the IIT graduates could no...