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Noting the huge number of school-educated youth the country would produce in the next 10 years, it said steps should be taken to make the most of this volume, by equipping with skills through apprenticeships and sectoral investments.
In a chapter called 'Seizing the demographic dividend', focusing on the issue of job creation, it points to the problem of the lull in growth of manufacturing and jobs, pointing to what could be done. It urges the organised manufacturing sector to invest more in workers, to bridge the gap between employer needs and worker capabilities. It says tough and business-unfriendly regulations have kept manufacturing sector businesses stunted, while tough labour laws have ensured most workers remain in the informal sector, with no social protection.
"Vast improvements in infrastructure, education, as well as in business regulation and labour laws," it said, would result in fewer workers depending on agriculture and larger holdings. "Again, more investment in capital and technology would create a much healthier agricultural sector, with significant rural entrepreneurship surrounding activities like horticulture, dairy products, and meat," the Survey says.
A similar approach would ensure the "manufacturing sector becomes a training ground for workers, absorbing more students with a middle or high school education. India moves into niches vacated by China such as semi-skilled manufacturing, while enhancing its advantage in skilled manufacturing and services. India experiences faster and more equitable growth. Social frictions are minimised, as both agriculture and manufacturing create better livelihoods''.
It called for re-examining labour laws to ensure do not come in the way of formalisation of labour. While the country has some of the strictest laws on a wide range of labour issues, industry has remained outside it by keeping most employment informal, it said.
