31 August - 1 September 2011, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
The shortage of skills in India is recognized as one of the key obstacles not only for broad-based employment growth but for sustaining employment-intensive industry growth in priority sectors as well. The 11th 5 Year Plan identifies the link between labour-intensive growth and the expansion of skills in the labour market and recognises skills and knowledge as driving forces of economic growth and social development with a goal of skilling 500 million by 2022. This is also considered necessary to ensure that India's demographic profile is used as an advantage. The upcoming 12th 5-Year Plan also places significant priority on skills development and faster generation of employment.