India, July 16 -- We are standing at the edge of a tectonic shift - a foundational transformation in how work will be done, how knowledge will be accessed, and how value will be created. Generative AI is already reshaping our institutions, industries and individual lives at breakneck speed. And India, with its youthful population and expanding digital footprint, is both uniquely positioned and highly vulnerable. We produce over 10 million graduates annually, including 1.5 million engineers. Yet many of them remain underemployed, poorly paid, or stuck in jobs that are already becoming obsolete. While the official unemployment rate is 5.6%, the underemployment and low-productivity trap runs much deeper. From contract review in law firms to radiology scans in hospitals, from coding assistants to synthetic voiceovers, AI is automating tasks we thought were safe for decades. We are entering an era where knowledge work itself is under threat. And the frightening part is: AI won't just replace jobs, it will hollow them out, change their nature, and widen inequalities between the AI-haves and have-nots. What can India do to prepare its workforce for an AI-driven future? And how do we ensure that this transformation becomes a force for inclusion, not exclusion? The first mindset shift is to stop thinking only in terms of job creation. AI doesn't just eliminate entire jobs, it reshapes them. A software developer using AI assistants can be 10 times more productive. A teacher with AI tools can personalise lessons for every student. But for this, the workforce must learn to work with AI. This calls for large-scale upskilling in digital literacy, prompt engineering, data fluency and critical thinking skills. Most Indian universities are still preparing students for yesterday's jobs. AI must be integrated across disciplines. A commerce graduate should understand how AI transforms auditing. A biology student should grasp what AI means for drug discovery. This calls for a fundamental overhaul of curricula, to embed AI's applications across domains. Industry-academia collaboration is essential here, especially in areas like health care, agriculture, manufacturing and finance, where AI deployment will be rapid and widespread. What we need now is a coordinated National Mission on AI-readiness. This should go beyond elite institutions. We need AI skills to reach ITIs, polytechnics, and tier-2 and tier-3 colleges. Online platforms can play a key role, but content must be in regional languages and tailored to practical use-cases. The AI era demands a National GenAI Skills Mission, with clear goals, timelines and accountability. Manufacturing, agriculture and services will all see AI-driven productivity gains. But without planning, this will also mean job losses at the bottom. We must ensure that technology adoption in these sectors is inclusive. In agriculture, AI-based crop forecasting or precision farming should empower the farmer, not replace them. In manufacturing, we need to upskill machine operators to work with smart machines. In services, we must build digital service clusters in smaller towns, enabling remote AI-supported roles in logistics, health care, customer support and beyond. As the country pushes for self-reliance in defence and semiconductor manufacturing, we are seeing a demand for skilled manpower in areas such as drones, sensors, secure communication and advanced electronics. With the right policy support and industry-academia partnerships, this can generate high-quality jobs. It can also build long-term capabilities in AI, robotics and materials while addressing both strategic and employment goals. India must become a hotbed for AI entrepreneurship, especially in areas like education, health, sustainability and rural development. Startups that solve Indian problems using GenAI must be actively supported through funding, regulatory clarity and market access. The AI onslaught is not a challenge that government policy alone can address. Academic institutions and industry must take the lead. Universities should be evaluated by the employability they ensure over a graduate's lifetime. Institutions must track how resilient their graduates are to technological change, what skills they are acquiring, and how they grow through their careers. We need AI centres of excellence across states, industry-backed fellowships for teaching AI and related subjects, and more research into the societal impact of these technologies. Every educational institution should have a clear roadmap to become AI-ready. The shift from counting jobs to enabling lifelong employability is the transition India now needs to make. It is not just a technological shift, it is a societal reset. How we prepare for AI will define the kind of society we become. India has shown that when it puts its mind to a mission, it can deliver at scale. Now, we need that same clarity and urgency to prepare for the age of AI....