Impact of skill-based vocational training on rural youth livelihood in India: A review

Introduction

India has one of the largest populations of youth in the world and the rural youth represent a huge proportion of this population structure. Young people in rural areas are a source of good human resources in economic development but these people have many challenges including unemployment, underemployment, inadequate access to quality education, and market-oriented skills. The traditional agriculture that has been the major source of livelihood in the countryside can no longer absorb the workforce that is increasing rapidly. Consequently, this has led to high migration of rural youths to urban centres seeking improved job opportunities and this has led to socio-economic imbalances. In that regard, vocational training as a way of cultivating relevant expertise has turned into a crucial approach to increasing the employability of rural areas and raising the living standards (World Bank, 2022; UNDP, 2023) [40,36] . Skill based vocational training is formal educational and training programs which are aimed at building practical and technical skills needed in particular jobs. Vocational training offers practical experience and industrially oriented skills unlike the traditional education systems that focus on theoretical knowledge. These training programs help close the gap between education and employment and equip youth with wage and self-employment in any of the activities such as agriculture, manufacturing, services, and small-scale businesses (Sharma and Bahl, 2023) [29] . The demographic dividend in India is an opportunity and a challenge. Although a high number of youngsters can help in boosting economic growth, poor skill development can act as a barrier to the proper exploitation of the potential. According to the reports, rigorous vocational training of Indian youth has taken place only among a limited number, and the gap in skills among the labor force is significant (World Bank, 2022) [41] . It has also been found that many rural young people do not have access to organized training, and this restricts their job and economic opportunities (Pratham Education Foundation, 2023) [25] . In response to the need to develop skills as a way of promoting the national development, the Government of India has launched a number of programs that are targeting to empower www.extensionjournal.com vocational education and enhance the employability of the young people. There are programs like Skill India Mission, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), which are aimed at training and certifying millions of youths in India in industry-related skills (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2023) [19] . These programs focus on skills acquisition, development of entrepreneurship, and creation of jobs, especially to the youth in the rural areas. Empirical studies indicate that the use of skills development and vocational training programs positively influence employment creation, improvement of income, and development of entrepreneurship among the youth in rural areas. A number of studies suggest that trained young people have higher chances of getting a job or starting small businesses than the untrained people, thus growing rural economies (Singh and Kumar, 2024; Behera et al., 2025) [31,6] . Besides economic advantages, there are various non-economic advantages as vocational training programs also enhance confidence, self-reliance, and social involvement among the young people (Gupta, 2026) [11] . In spite of these efforts, there are still some problems related to making vocational training programs available and efficient in the rural locations. The overall quality of skill development programs is often negatively affected by the failure to address such issues as inadequate infrastructure, insufficient awareness, inability to link the industries, and the lack of alignment between the training and labor market needs (UNDP, 2023; World Bank, 2022) [39,42] . These issues need to be dealt with in order to fully utilize the potential of the vocational training of rural youths. Thus, it is necessary to review the available literature on the effects of the skillbased vocational training on the livelihoods of rural youth to understand its effectiveness, determine the existing gaps, and recommend how the future programs can be improved. Against this background, the given review paper will examine how the concept of skill-based vocational training can be used to improve the livelihood opportunities and socio-economic development of rural youth in India.

Vocational Training Idea Skill based Training

Skill based vocational training is a designed system of education and training, which emphasizes practical knowledge, technical skills, and job specific skills that an individual needs to get employment in different jobs. As opposed to the traditional scholarly education style where theoretical knowledge takes precedence, vocational training is tailored with the view of offering practical skills and professional skills that are relevant in the industry and allow individuals to execute certain tasks effectively. The skillbased vocational training is primarily aimed at optimizing employability, entrepreneurship, and increasing livelihood opportunities of the population, especially the youth in rural and poorer regions (World Bank, 2022) [40] . Vocational training contributes so much in the level of bridging between education and the labor market to the extent that it is used in equipping individuals with the required skills in industries and service sectors. It has training in all kinds of areas, including agriculture, agroprocessing, carpentry, electrical work, tailoring, information technology, hospitality and other occupations that require services. Such initiatives usually imply a set of theoretical training and practical training as a means of enabling the trainees to gain both theoretical and practical knowledge that is needed in the field of practice (UNDP, 2023) [36] . Skill-based vocational training is viewed as a relevant measure in the scenario of developing nations such as India that can help solve the problem of unemployment among young people and enhance the quality of rural life. A high percentage of the rural youths are usually not able to access higher education and formal jobs. Vocational training also offers them a different avenue to learn marketable skills and gain employment or open up a self-employment business. Such training increases the productive power of people by increasing income, reducing poverty, and the socioeconomic development, in general (Sharma and Bahl, 2023) [29] . Vocational training that is skill-based, is also significant in enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation by the youth in the rural areas. Training programs have had several modules that deal with enterprise development, financial literacy and business management, which allow trainees to begin small enterprises or participate in income generating endeavors. Not only does this increase the economic level of people, but also leads to improvement in rural economies through providing the building of employment facilities in the local communities (Singh and Kumar, 2024) [31] . Also, vocational training has become a policy focus in India as a way to tap the demographic dividend in the country. The government has also come up with a number of national programs to enhance the skills development and vocational education system in the country. The objectives of these programs are to offer standardized training and certification opportunities and the creation of job opportunities to young people, especially those who live in rural regions (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2023) [19] . In general, the use of skill-based vocational training is an important tool in enhancing employability, entrepreneurship and increasing livelihood chances among the rural youths. Providing young people with practical skills and competencies, vocational training helps not only in the individual economic progress but also in achieving larger objectives of rural development and sustainable economic growth.

Indian Young rural and Employment situation

India also has one of the most diverse youth populations in the world and the rural youth form a large percentage of the youths. As recent estimations show, the majority of Indian population, one-sixth of the population is in rural regions, youngsters are a significant means of production in the agricultural sector, rural business, and local economic processes. Rural youth are also known to encounter a lot of problems with accessing stable and productive job opportunities despite their potential contribution to the development of the country. Low education, incompetence in vocational expertise, access to contemporary technology, and insufficient job prospects in rural places are some of the contributing factors to the fact that unemployment and underemployment rates are high among the youth in the rural areas (World Bank, 2022; International Labour Organization, 2023) [41,15] . In India, the young people in the villages have historically depended on agriculture as the main source of livelihood. Nevertheless, the industry is also becoming defined by small land plots, low productivity, and seasonal work, which inhibit the income-generating capacity and employment permanence in the long run. Consequently, this forces a number of the rural youth to find other sources of livelihood other than farming. The rural areas are mainly characterized by lack of diversified economic activities and therefore the migration of the youth to urban centers in search of better job opportunities. The migration both puts a strain on the infrastructure of the city and causes shortage of labor in the countryside (National Sample Survey Office, 2022) [21] . The other significant problem of youth in the rural areas is the discrepancy between the level of education and the labor market demands. A large number of the youths are graduating without having acquired work related or handson skills that are required in industries and service industries. Therefore, educated young people, especially in rural areas, find it very difficult to get appropriate job opportunities. Research has shown that a comparatively low percentage of Indian young people has had formal vocational training, which shows a huge skills deficit in the workforce (World Bank, 2022) [42] . Such a scenario highlights the necessity of increasing the scope of skills development and vocational training programs to increase employability by young people living in rural areas. Rural poverty, inaccessibility to financial resources, and insufficient infrastructure are other socio-economic determinants of employment of the rural youth. The young people in most instances do not have the required support systems such as credit facilities, training institutions and market linkages which are fundamental in setting up small businesses or undertaking self-employment engagements. The rural labour market is also still characterized by gender inequalities, and young women are often subjected to further challenges connected to the social norms, movement restrictions, as well as access to education and skill development opportunities (United Nations Development Programme, 2023) [36,39] . In a bid to address the challenges, the Government of India and other development organizations have introduced a number of programs that are geared towards enhancing employment opportunities of young people in rural areas. These are aimed at skill development, promotion of entrepreneurship, and development of rural entrepreneurship to empower youth to get sustainable livelihoods. The success of such programs however relies mostly on how available such programs are in terms of quality training, industry connections and support systems that will support the youth to move beyond training to employment.

Important Skill Development Programs in India

The Government of India has made a number of initiatives on skill development in order to overcome unemployment and improve the employability of youth. These programs are intended to offer industry-relevant occupation training, to facilitate entrepreneurship and to enhance livelihood opportunities, especially to the rural youth. The large-scale national projects are based on the umbrella program of the Skill India Mission that aims to provide a skilled and globally competitive workforce.

Skill India Mission

The Skill India Mission, initiated in 2015 by the Government of India, is set to educate the youth in different occupational skills and make them employable. The mission is to equip the industries with training towards entrepreneurship and enhancing institutional capacity to develop skills in the entire country. It also fosters collaboration with industries and international body to make Indian training programs conform to international standards.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

The flagship skill development scheme based on Skill India Mission is PMKVY. Introduced in 2015, it offers short-term vocational training, certifications of skills and finances to youth to motivate them to join skill training programs. The program is geared towards enhancing industry related skills in manufacturing, healthcare, electronics, retailing, and information technology. Millions of people have been trained under this program across the years, and the program assists in bridging the gap between the youth aspirations and the labor market needs.

Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY

The National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS)

The National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme is a program that promotes the training of youth through apprenticeships programs. In this program, the government provides employers using apprentices in their organizations with financial incentives. The scheme encourages on-the-job training where trainees can acquire on-the-job work experience as they acquire professional skills in real working conditions in an industry.

Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness to Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP)

SANKALP is a program aimed at enhancing institutional capacity to develop skills in India. It is concerned with bettering the quality and accessibility of vocational training through sponsorship of state governments, training institutions and industry partners. The program will primarily improve the level of training, facilitate innovation and improve the correspondence between the labor market requirements and the skill training.

PM Vishwakarma Scheme

In 2023, the PM Vishwakarma Scheme was created to help traditional artisans and craftspeople through skill training, toolkits, financial direction, and marketing. The scheme is meant to conserve the ancient skills and increase the levels of productivity and income-generating opportunities among artisans who practice different forms of arts like carpentry, blacksmithing as well as handicrafts. www.extensionjournal.com

Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs).

RSETIs offer entrepreneurship based training to the rural youths especially those who are economically less privileged. These institutes are bank and governmentsponsored and they aim at encouraging self-employment by training in trades like tailoring, electrical work, food processing, and small business management.

Effects of Vocational training on Rural Youth Livelihood

Vocational training that is based on skills is very essential when it comes to improving the livelihood of the rural youth as it increases their level of employability, earning capacity and entrepreneurship. Vocational training equips the youth with practical skills to participate in other economic activities in rural areas where they do not have much employment opportunities and where agriculture can never absorb the increasing number of people. These training initiatives are aimed at acquisition of technical skills and practical skills that can help the rural youth to secure wage jobs or create self-employment business in areas like agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing, services, and small business. The other major effect of vocational training is the effect of enhancing the employment opportunities of youth in the rural areas. Through learning employment oriented skills, the youths will be more marketable in the job market and be in a better position to respond to the needs of the industries and service sectors. Research has revealed that people who are formally trained to occupy a job have better chances of employment and better wages than those who are not trained. As an example, it has been found that even formal vocational training can raise the wage level by approximately 4.7% in general, and higher in some occupations like agriculture and manufacturing, which proves the cost-efficiency of skill training. Vocational training is also a major income boosting, as well as economical aspect to the rural households. Most of the training programs are aimed at developing young people with skills that help them to take up income generating activities or small businesses. Through rural studies carried out by agricultural institutions, it is evidenced that vocational training can also result in the changes of the low income groups into middle or high income group in youths engaged in agricultural institutions. Also, empirical evidence in rural India has shown that people undergoing formal vocational education earn more income especially when the training time is higher and there is practical entrepreneurial element in the training. The other notable effect of vocational training is that it advances selfemployment and entrepreneurship among the youth in the rural areas. The training programs usually cover business development, financial literacy and enterprise management modules and allow young people to use the resources to initiate small businesses like food processing units, handicrafts, tailoring services or farming enterprises. Vocational training promotes diversification of the rural livelihoods by encouraging entrepreneurship and diminishing the reliance on traditional agriculture. It as well promotes local economic growth as it generates more job opportunities in the rural communities. Vocational training also leads to social empowerment and capacity building to rural youth. Skill acquisition also builds confidence in people, the ability to make decisions, and increased involvement in economic and community life. Training is also used to create awareness regarding new technologies, better farming techniques, and new ways of livelihood. Being more skilled and productive, rural youth are more capable of helping the development of families and communities. In addition, skill development programs can be used to halt rural-to-urban migration as jobs in rural areas are also created. Young people are likely to avoid the complexity of having to leave their communities in search of employment in urban areas when they have marketable skills and can earn an income in the community. This helps not only to boost the economy of the rural areas, but also to enhance balanced development of the regions. Even with these good effects, there are still a number of challenges that influence the effectiveness of the vocational training programs. Poor availability of training centers, insufficient awareness levels among the rural youth, and discrepancies between the training programs and the needs of the industry usually diminish the sustainability of these programs in the long-term. It has been shown in a survey that a substantial percentage of rural young people in India have not yet been exposed to any sort of vocational training, which is why the advocacy should be to extend the scope and caliber of skill training programs. All in all, vocational training is critical in advancing the lives of youth in rural areas since it enhances the employment opportunities, raising the levels of incomes, entrepreneurship, and the cumulative effect is the empowerment of the rural economies. Another way of reinforcing the beneficial effects of skill development programs on the livelihoods of rural youths in India would be to strengthen the vocational training and make the training institutions and industries related in a better manner.

Skills Problem in Vocational Training of the Rural Youth

Vocational training based on skills has become a significant approach to enhancing the employability of rural youth in India in terms of livelihood opportunities. Nevertheless, even with the growth of a number of governmental skill development projects by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship that are being carried out by the National Skill Development Corporation, a number of institutional, structural and socio-economic factors still restrict the effectiveness and scope of these initiatives. The inadequacy of the training infrastructure in rural areas is one of the greatest hurdles. Numerous vocational training facilities are found in either urban or semi-urban areas and as such, the rural young people are hardly able to find good skill development opportunities. In the far flung villages, the lack of transport facilities, ignorance and the lack of training institutions further limits the participation. Inequalities in training facilities spread across unevenly, according to the International Labour Organization, are some of the main contributors of skills gaps among the rural population. The other notable issue is the inadequacy of the training programs with the labor market needs. A good number of the vocation training courses delivered in government schemes do not necessarily correspond to the real requirements of industries or the local markets. Consequently, this means that trained youth have challenges www.extensionjournal.com in getting jobs that are related to their skills. National Skill Development Corporation reports indicate the industry linkage and demand-based training is also low in many regions, which decreases the employability of the trainees. A lack of awareness and social perception about vocational training is also another obstacle to the success of the skill based training programs. Vocational education is still observed to be less prestigious than formal academic education in most rural societies. Family backgrounds usually push young people into furthering their education to attain the conventional degrees instead of vocational training which in most cases offers them better jobs opportunities. This social stigma discourages many youths from taking up vocational courses. The other important challenge is financial constraints. Most of the rural children are in poorer families and are unable to pay training fees, costs of traveling to and back, and accommodation costs with vocational programs. Despite the existence of various government programs where training is offered at subsidized or no cost, the opportunity costs along with an opportunity cost make it hard to have youths to consistently attend training programs. Vocational education is also influenced by quality of training and lack of skilled trainers. Some of these institutions of training have old curriculums, ineffective equipment, and lack of practical exposure, thus restricting the learning process of relevant skills. In addition, inadequacy of qualified trainers and expertise in the industry decreases the overall quality of delivery of training, which translates to the employability of the trainees. The issue of gender differences is another issue that continues to pervade rural skill development. Women in the rural areas are usually under social constraints, there are limitations to their mobility, as well as their household duties which do not allow them to attend vocational training. Research by UNESCO and UNICEF has shown that to have inclusive and equitable access to the opportunities to skill development, it is important to overcome the gender barriers. The other significant problem is that there is no support and placement opportunities after training. Most of the training programs do not offer much support in terms of job placements, development of business or access to credit although the training programs are mainly aimed at the acquisition of skills. Unless adequately supported through follow-ups the trained youth might fail in the translation of their skills into livelihood sustainability. Moreover, technological constraints and digital divide also pose a challenge to the successful acquisition of skills in the rural regions. As more and more digital technologies are introduced into vocational training and employment industries, poor access to internet connectivity, digital devices, and digital literacy add additional barriers to rural youth. Altogether, these problems indicate that a more interconnected and inclusive strategy toward skills development in rural India can be adopted. Infrastructure reinforcements, better industry relations, training quality, gender differences, and better post-training follow-up can be an effective way of ensuring that the vocational training programs are effective and that the livelihood results of the rural young people are realized.

Extension and Educational Institutions Role

The education institutions and the extension are important in encouraging the skill-based vocational training and increase livelihood prospects of the youth in the rural areas in India. These organizations are valuable for propagation of knowledge, capacity building and skill development through technical training, entrepreneurial advice and modern technologies. They assist the rural youth through different educational and extension programs to gain practical skills that enhance their employability and generation of sustainable livelihood. [33] . Educational institutions such as universities, polytechnic colleges, and vocational training institutes also contribute to skill development by designing curriculum-based training programs that align with industry requirements. These institutions collaborate with industries and government agencies to provide internships, apprenticeships, and placement opportunities for trained youth. Such collaborations help bridge the gap between education and employment by ensuring that the skills acquired by students meet the demands of the labor market (World Bank, 2022) [40] . Furthermore, extension and educational institutions play a crucial role in promoting entrepreneurship among rural youth. Many institutions provide entrepreneurship development programs, incubation centers, and startup support services that enable young individuals to establish small enterprises in rural areas. These initiatives help rural www.extensionjournal.com youth become self-reliant and contribute to local economic development. In addition, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations often collaborate with educational institutions to implement skill development projects and livelihood programs in rural communities. These partnerships strengthen outreach activities and ensure that vocational training programs reach marginalized and disadvantaged youth.

Policy Implications and Future Strategies

Skill-based vocational training has emerged as an essential strategy for improving the employability and livelihood opportunities of rural youth in India. However, the success of these programs depends largely on effective policy frameworks, institutional

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