Introduction

COVID-19 has spread to over 200 countries across the globe, exposing fragility of healthcare systems, inefficiency of social protection frameworks and lack of economic resilience. Governments have taken drastic measures like imposing country-wide lockdowns and closing borders to arrest further spread of the pandemic. These strategies, however, have caused slowdown in economic activity and trade, disrupting global supply chains. World Trade Organisation (WTO) estimates that impact of health crisis on global trade will be more severe than that of financial crisis of 2008-09. Devastating consequences on nations like India is being witnessed due to large population and weak healthcare infrastructure (Warjri & Shah, 2020).

100 million and more Indian jobs will be at risk during and after the COVID-19 lockdown stage. Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), a leading industry association, asked industry bosses how they felt things would pan out—of the 200 CEOs surveyed one-third expected job losses of 15-30 per cent in their respective sectors. Another 47 per cent felt the figures might be slightly less than 15 per cent. But translated into actual numbers, the scenario still seems scary. From end-March, many companies have resorted to one of these three decisions—sacking people, asking employees to go on indefinite leave without pay, and slashing salaries by as much as 85 per cent. Although Goldman Sachs and World Bank have predicted the world economy could witness a negative growth of up to 3 per cent and India to grow at mere 1.5-1.6 per cent, latter may not be true. India is less dependent on exports compared to China and Japan and has a huge domestic demand—so growth may ―remain static‖ around 4-5 per cent (Nayar et al., 2020).

The world is slowly limping back to work. There is some slowdown in infections and death rates in many developed countries, but corona virus is not done with the world yet. Till now, more than 51 lakh people have been infected by the virus globally, with over 3.33 lakh deaths. That is the human cost. The economic and social impact is unprecedented. This is one of the worst global economic declines. Most countries are going to witness negative growth ranging from 5-15%. But there is enough resilience in the system with new technologies and global connectivity in financial markets. India needs to have a clear policy to survive and grow in the post-Covid-19 world. Covid-19 is global disaster for which the world was totally unprepared. But the world and India must draw some major lessons out of this unpleasant experience and turn it into a positive one. Doing more of the same after the lockdown is fully lifted is not at all an option. Let us hope that a new thinking process will lead to better policies that help us come out much stronger, with more resilient economies and health systems. The economy is not just numbers; real progress and social stability are needed—that is the biggest lesson from this Covid- 19 disaster (Vinod Kumar, 2020)

India has one of the youngest populations in world — almost 46% less than 24 years of age. Many of them are currently enrolled in education system and would be competing for jobs and employment in coming decade. Many of them are going to be working in jobs that do not exist today. Today, technology, industrial automation, robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing way industries work — making many of the jobs of today redundant. As a result, lot of working population would need to re-skill themselves to new jobs emerging from technology innovations. India‘s job market is undergoing these changes and there is need for fresh thinking to address current and emerging challenges. Education that many students receive today is not adequate for a world that is being transformed by scientific and technological advances (FICCI- EY, 2016).

Higher education system in India has big role to play in development of the economy. It is this system that feeds need of trained and skilled manpower for engines of the industry. With ever-changing job market and industry, it is imperative that higher education system adapts itself to new paradigm of imparting life skills and imbibing analytical thinking process among learners — to prepare them for any jobs they may take up in their working lives.

In 21st century, pace of change in job market has hugely accelerated. Changing job scenario is leading to employees switching jobs more often — in many cases to sectors and roles that they did not study for. Many learners who are currently in school would end up working for jobs and roles that do not exist today. Many people are getting into entrepreneurial roles right after higher education, and many are getting into roles different from their fields of study (FICCI- EY, 2016).

Higher education sector needs to transform itself to remain relevant to changing landscape. Focus of higher education needs to change from providing employability enhancements, to prepare learners into thinking, problem-solving and decision-making individuals. Based on current trends in job market, some of the proposed enabling factors for individual learner are as follows (FICCI-EY, 2016):

• Focus on judgment-driven skills: Preparing student for complex-decision making by inculcating softer aspects of job requirements in curriculum — negotiation skills, analytical thinking, problem-solving, communication skills, people management and cognitive flexibility.

• Personalised learning paths: Offering learning roadmaps aligned to individual constraints of time, location and customised solutions to gain skills that are needed, through innovative usage of technology and pedagogical techniques.

• Pedagogical innovations to promote experiential learning: Optimally using peer-to-peer learning, gamifications, virtual reality and augmented reality, simulators etc. to enhance learning experience of student and integrating education with real-world experience.

• Flexible program structures: Developing flexible entry and exit systems for learners to allow them to gain work experience and upskill as needed.

• Lifelong learning: Letting students ―unlearn and learn‖ new skills

To enable students for this scenario, higher education needs to relook at the way it has been operating currently.

Sabharwal (2013) states that India is going through five labour market transitions: farm to non-farm, rural to urban, unorganised to organised, subsistence self-employment to decent wage employment and school to work. These are journeys to a better life for most Indians, but they are being sabotaged by problems: matching (employment reform), mismatch (employability reform) and pipeline (education reform). He further states that poor functioning of 3Es of education, employment and employability has resulted in growth not being translated into sustained poverty reduction in India. Added to this is the fourth E of entrepreneurship which is a missing link. This may get further compounded in post COVID – 19 scenario and will have to be factored in the recovery journey.

Atmanirbhar Bharat

The idea of Atmanirbharta, or self-reliance, was at the heart of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi‘s address to nation on 12th May 2020 when he announced an economic stimulus package for Rs 20-lakh-crore (estimated at 10% of the GDP), towards building a Atmanirbhar Bharat, or a self-reliant, resilient India, which is one of the largest relief packages in the world. In order to make this plan successful, land, labor, liquidity and laws all have been specifically considered under this package. The package will be used for cottage industry, home industry, small-scale industry, MSME, laborers, farmers, middle-class people and those Indian industries which are working to boost our economy dedicatedly.

The Five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat focus on:

. Economy – an economy that brings Quantum Jump rather than Incremental change.

. Infrastructure – an infrastructure that becomes the identity of modern India.

. System – A system that is driven by technology to fulfill the dreams of the 21st century

. Demography – Our Vibrant Demography is our source of energy for self-reliant India.

. Demand – The cycle of demand and supply chain is the strength that needs to be harnessed to its full potential.

The Five phases of Atmanirbhar Bharat are:

. Phase-I: Businesses including Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

. Phase-II: Poor, including migrants and farmers

. Phase-III: Agriculture

. Phase-IV: New Horizons of Growth

. Phase-V: Government Reforms and Enablers

The Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman announced in a press conference the package in five tranches. This package is inclusive of Rs. 1.7 Lakh crore of free food grains to the poor and cash to poor women and old people, as well as liquidity measures and interest rate cuts by Reserve Bank of India which entirely amounts to Rs. 8.01 lakh crore. The First Tranche of Rs. 5,94,550 crore package focusing mainly on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, Provident Fund relief, Non Banking Financial Companies(NBFC), Tax Deducated at Source /Tax Collected at Source rates, Distribution Companies (DISCOMs), Real estate companies and others. The Second Tranche of Rs. 3,10,000 crore package aiming to cater farmers and migrant workers. The Third Tranche of Rs. 1,50,000 crore package focusing on agriculture, dairy and its related sectors, The Fourth and Fifth Tranches of Rs. 48,100 crore catering reforms for coal, minerals, air space management, defense production, DISCOMs in Union Territories and atomic energy.

The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan announced by India‘s honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi aims to reduce unemployment, insolvency, and poverty and increase India‘s per capita GDP. According to our Prime Minister our scriptures ̳Esha Upanishadha‘ talks about Self Reliance. The concept of Self-Reliant India is brought up during the times of economic slowdown with the purpose to make Indian Economy stronger and to promote local products in India as well as all over the world. Due to the long-lasted lockdown phases, India has come to a very crucial juncture. The Indian culture and tradition have always backed the concept of being Self-Reliant. The mission of this Abhiyan was explained by our Prime Minister as not being self-centric but being self sufficient so that it can bring happiness, co-operation and peace of the world. This Abhiyan aiming to be built on the five pillars namely, economy, infrastructure, system, vibrant demography and demand. It is basically a re-packaged version of ̳Make In India‘ concept with more benefits for MSME sector, encouraging private participation in various sectors, escalating Foreign Direct Investment in the defense sector and many more. The primary mission is of the economic reform that will definitely get the economic growth back to its desired level (Trade Brains, 2020).

India has faced the COVID-19 situation with fortitude and a spirit of self-reliance that is evident in the fact that from zero production of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) before March 2020, India today has created a capacity of producing 2 lakh PPE kits daily, which is growing steadily and is ready to export PPEs. Additionally, India has demonstrated how it rises up to challenges and uncovers opportunities therein, as manifested in the re-purposing of various automobile sector industries to collaborate in the making of life-saving ventilators. The clarion call given by the Hon‘ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to use these trying times to become Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) has been very well received to enable the resurgence of the Indian economy.

The saying, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, holds more truth now than ever before. India has embarked on a journey of self-reliance with the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan – an economic stimulus of extraordinary proportions to provide financial relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so as to enable business survival and continuity and improve the environment for agriculture and transform India into a hub for global manufacturing and services value chain. The journey has begun; what we need is a map – an economic blueprint – that will ensure we reach our destination. This blueprint would need to address domestic growth and put in place measures that will make India attractive for foreign investments. Talking about the vision for this Abhiyan the Prime Minister urged in his speech to all Indians to come up with detailed study of every sector and to think big. He added Intent, Inclusion, Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation are very important for India in responding to high growth trajectory. Such reforms are systemic, planned, integrated, inter-connected and futuristic process. In his vision he not only aims to promote local products but also suggests everyone to improve quality, modernisation of supply chain and providing best products. He emphasised on inner strength and self-belief for making this Abhiyan successful (Trade Brains, 2020).

There are parallels between PM Modi‘s message and Mahatma Gandhi‘s concept of a self- reliant India, the bedrock of his Swadeshi philosophy. Self-reliance is woven into the tapestry of India‘s journey right from the Swarajya movement. The renewed pursuit of Atmanirbharta sows the seeds for a new course of long-term development, and serves as the pivot on which India can emerge as a hub for manufacturing and investments. In order to achieve this vision, India needs to focus on holistic and sustainable development. With its growth agenda, the government is set to play an important role in creating a conducive environment for business. Keeping in mind the fundamental pillars of this new, post-COVID-19 India that PM Modi highlighted in his speech, it is important that key policy changes are implemented (Bansal, 2020).

When the crisis takes its place, it is everyone‘s duty to create an opportunity out of it for the betterment of the nation. The short-term impact of this should never be considered as we all know that the crisis has hit every sector to some or the other extent. Hence, its long-term effect should be contemplated and by adopting futuristic approach. It is important to note that the Abhiyan does not suggest to cut off relations from global platform and trade only with local products, the fundamental concept of this Abhiyan is to become not only self-sufficient but also to promote local businesses and to show off and feel proud about what invaluable assets we possess. Certainly, this is going to be one of the biggest reforms worldwide. By nourishing local manufacturers, supply chain and with diversification in services and products the Abhiyan can be made a successful mission.

There has never been better time in history to take such bold measures. Externally, there is ongoing rebalancing of world powers and India is being looked at as a partner in current fight against COVID-19. Domestically, India has strong government at Centre, bold leadership and strong consumption story given its demographic mix. If bold measures are not taken over next five to ten years, our ability to achieve economic independence will get drastically impacted. Hence, it is critical that, with the vision laid out by government, we act fast and act together to usher in a stronger, self-reliant and more prosperous nation (Bansal, 2020).

Proposed Model of 4Es and Five Pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat

The 4 Es of Education, Employability, Employment and Entrepreneurship are imperative in building a self-reliant Atmanirbhar Bharat, by supporting the five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat and by capitalising on human assets of India.

This proposed Model is an effort to combine five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat with basic framework required for accelerating economic growth. Education is the starting point for growth and development of any society. Education provides substratum of workforce to the economy. Hence, economy and education need to be juxtaposed. Education should lead to employability. Employability should make employment possible and should facilitate entrepreneurship.

The base of 4 Es, Education, Employability, Employment and Entrepreneurship should be interwoven properly to support five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat, with economy occupying the pivotal position, depicted in a circle at centre indicates the dynamic nature of economy, for taking a quantum leap forward. Other four pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat, namely, Infrastructure, Systems, Demography and Demand are directly related to 4Es for their inputs and enhancement.

4Es are discussed below in connection with five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Education

Education is both an instrument and a component of development. Education‘s contribution to economic growth and social transformation of societies is now recognised all over the world. India aims at transforming itself into a knowledge society and recognises the pivotal role education plays in this (Tilak, 2018).

The key challenge before the education system is the high dropouts at various stages of education. About 35 % of students who start school do not reach grade 10. Of the 26 million who take the grade 10 exit examination, 10 million do not pass. 8 million out of 16 million who take the grade 12 examinations fail to clear them. Only 5 million of the 8 million who go past grade 12 examination go on to college. Preparing a robust pipeline of educated and skilled workers and professionals requires improved completion and transition rates at lower levels of education. A robust primary and secondary education system with adequate quality benchmarks, is crucial to ensure that the higher levels of education and training have a good supply of well prepared students. The education has low capacity. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher education in India is 26.3%, which is calculated for 18-23 years of age group. GER for male population is 26.3% and for females, it is 26.4%. For Scheduled Castes, it is 23% and for Scheduled Tribes, it is 17.2% as compared to the national GER of 26.3%. India‘s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at tertiary level at 11 % is less than half of the world average and much lower than the developed country average of 45 %. Only 15 million people out of population of 13,000 million are enrolled in higher education in India. The system also has low inclusiveness. The Gross Enrollment Ratio is lower than average for women and disadvantaged populations. More than half districts in India have GERs that are lower than national average. These issues need to be addressed to make Atmanirbhar Bharat a reality. There is also need to improve quality of school education. Vocationalisation needs to be examined in context of fast changing technology. One has to ensure that the schools make sure that they impart adequate levels of quality education to address the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) along with communication skills and soft skills. There is urgent need to create a robust base of school education system that is aligned to the higher levels.

Some initiatives under Atmanirbhar Bharat for education are:

PM e-VIDYA

A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA will be launched which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. This will enable multi-mode access to education, and includes: DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform) which will become India‘s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all states/Union Territories; TV (one class- one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material: SWAYAM online courses in MOOCS format for school and higher education; IITPAL for IITJEE/NEET preparation; Air through Community radio and CBSE Shiksha Vani podcast; and study material for differently abled developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across India.

National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework for School Education

There is need to promote critical thinking, creative and communication skills, along with experiential and joyful learning for students focusing on learning outcomes. The curriculum must be rooted in Indian ethos and integrated with global skill requirements. Hence, decision is taken to prepare new National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework for school education, teacher education and early childhood stage to prepare students and teachers as per global benchmarks.

National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission

A National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission will be launched, for ensuring that every child in India attains foundational literacy and numeracy in Grade 3 by 2022. For this, teacher capacity building, robust curricular framework, engaging learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed to take it forward in systematic fashion. This mission will cover the learning needs of nearly 4 crore children in age group of 3 to 11 years.

Manodarpan

In this time of global pandemic, it is vital that we provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Manodarpan initiative is being launched to provide such support through website, toll-free helpline, national directory of counselors, interactive chat platform etc. This initiative will benefit all school going children in India, along with their parents, teachers and community of stakeholders in school education.

e-learning in Higher Education

Government is expanding e-learning in higher education – by liberalising open, distance and online education regulatory framework. Top 100 universities will start online courses. Also, online component in conventional Universities and Open Distance Learning (ODL) programmes will be raised from present 20% to 40%. This will provide enhanced learning opportunities to nearly 7 crore students across different colleges and Universities.

One missing link is schooling for children of migrant labour (inter-state and intra-state), unorganised and informal sector labour. This needs to be addressed to make Atmanirbhar Bharat – a holistic destination.

The higher education system has been characterised with big policy vacuum for long period (Tilak, 2010). It is only towards end of Eleventh plan period that government set out for reforms in higher education and big paradigm shift in higher education could be witnessed. India needs to expand higher education system as countries with small higher education system cannot progress India has target of reaching 30 % gross enrolment ratio in higher education by 2020 (Tilak, 2014).

India‘s higher education system is the third largest education system in the world. India hasaround 993 Universities, and 39931 Colleges. The Indian education system provides moretheoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge. Both skill development and higher educationare complementary factors but in present scenario universities are imparting knowledge only andgovernment skills programmes are only providing skills. India must provide both knowledge andskills to youth in single university.

Employability

Employability is a notion that captures economic and political times in which we live. As the developed economies come to rely on knowledge-driven business, employability is seen as a source of competitive advantage as national prosperity depends on upgrading knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial zeal of the workforce (Brown & Lauder, 2001). In spite of large scale growth and development in institutions offering higher education in India, ground reality is that employability of various qualified youngsters churned out of our educational system remains a question mark (Subramanian, 2017).

Employability refers to person‘s capability of gaining initial employment, maintaining employment and obtaining new employment if required (Hillage & Pollard, 1998). Employability is ability of graduate to get satisfying job (Harvey, 2001). Employability is having a set of skills, knowledge and understanding that make a person more likely to choose and secure occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful (Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007).

Skill development is a way to empower workforce with necessary skills, knowledge through vocational or technical training to meet industry requirements and to ensure competitiveness in dynamic global market (Maclean, 2013). The mismatch problem arises from divergence in what employers are seeking in the candidates in addition to qualifications and actual skills candidates have. This issue of employability skills is particularly important for students who have completed their education but are unable to get a job. There is lack of alignment between various parts of skills, training and employment ecosystem that includes assessment, curriculum, certification and jobs. Unless training institutions are able to effectively take on board market demands and trends for skills, including employability skills in their curriculum and courses and able to provide certification for well-defined skill sets, employability mismatch will continue (Sabharwal, 2013).

Government of India has initiated several programmes to develop skills in the younger generation. Some of the Government Initiatives for Skill Development in Youth are:

1. The SDI – MES Scheme

The Government of India launched Skills Development Initiative (SDI) scheme in 2008 with aim to train 1 million persons on demand-driven vocational skills over next 5 years and 1 million each year after that to support skills training, certification and upgradation in unorganised sector. Under this scheme Directorate General of Employment and Training / Ministry of Labour and Employment undertook development and implementation of strategic framework known as Modular Employable Skills (MES) to cater to youth and existing workers, especially in the informal economy. MES offers flexibility in provision of vocational training to those who have limited education. It provides for testing and certification of existing skills of a person through mechanism of third party assessment of trainees under MES framework through empanelled bodies leading to certification that has national recognition in India.

2. Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP)

Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP) project aims to implement National Skill Development Mission (NSDM) which was launched on 15th July 2015 by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The project is through World Bank support of US Dollar 500 Million and is aligned with NSDM objectives. It provides access to skill training opportunities to disadvantaged sections and supplement Make in India initiative by catering to skill requirements in relevant manufacturing sector. Agreement for SANKALP was signed on 13th December 2017 between Government of India and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. SANKALP aims to reform skill development, decentralise skill development governance and improve industry connect of skill development.

3. Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE)

Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) project is World Bank assisted Government of India project with objective of improving relevance and efficiency of skills training provided through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and apprenticeships. The financial agreement was signed between Government of India and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on 19th December 2017.

4. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was introduced to train youths in undertaking jobs to have better means of living. PMKVY is implemented by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through National Skill Development Corporation. Government has allocated Rs. 12000 crores and scheme aims to nurture 10 million individuals from 2016 to 2020.

5. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU – GKY)

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU – GKY) aims to skill poor rural youth and provide them with regular jobs. It is cluster initiative of Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India that seeks to promote rural livelihoods. It is part of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for poverty reduction. The scheme will benefit more than 55 million poor rural youth who are ready to be skilled by providing sustainable employment.

Skill development is very important for good future and hence government should focus on skill development and achieve goals of Kaushal bharat kushal bharat for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Employment

A damaging impact on an economy as large as India‘s caused due total lockdown was imminent. Unemployment went up to 24 percent on 17th May 2020. This was possibly result of decrease in demand as well as disruption of workforce faced by companies. This caused Gross Value Added (GVA) loss of more than nine percent for the Indian economy that month (Keelery, 2020). Unemployment rose from 6.7% on 15th March 2020 to 26% on 19th April 2020 and then back down to pre-lockdown levels by mid-June. During lockdown, an estimated 140 million people lost employment while salaries were cut for many others (Wikipedia, 2020).

India‘s unemployment rate in June 2020 fell to 11% from 23.5% in May 2020, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) as economic activities resumed after government eased pandemic lockdown restrictions. The virus has infected over half a million people in India, hitting economic activity, but fall in unemployment rate suggested worst may be over for the economy, at least for now (Business Standard,2020).

The unemployment rate in India fell to pre-lockdown level of 8.5% in week ended 21st June 2020 from peak rate of 23.5% in April and May after nationwide lockdown was imposed resulting in job losses for millions of workers, Urban unemployment continues to be higher than pre-COVID levels while rural unemployment has come down significantly, thanks to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Kharif sowing across India, said the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in its weekly report. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.26% in rural India in the week ended 21st June, lower than it was in the pre-lockdown week ended 22nd March 2020 when it stood at 8.3%. It is still little higher than the 13-week average pre- lockdown rate of 6.8%. According to CMIE, the person-days of jobs created in May 2020 under rural unemployment scheme shot up to 565 million, 53% higher than 370 million person-days of jobs created under the scheme in May 2019 and 2.55 times average monthly person-days of jobs created in 2019-20. 33 million households benefited from the scheme in May 2020, 55% increase than number of households that benefited a year ago (Sharma, Y.S., 2020).

According to an analysis of CMIE, jobs came back in June 2020. Of the 122 million jobs lost in April 2020 because of the lockdown, 21 million came back in May 2020. Then in June, over 70 million jobs came back. As a result, by June of the 122 million jobs that were lost, 91 million jobs came back. In June therefore, the employment deficit compared to the 2019-20 average was about 30 million. It was still 7.4 per cent. Out of the jobs that came back in June, 44.5 million were those of small traders and wage labourers. Against an average employment of 404 million in 2019 – 2020, employment in June was 374 million. Of the 70 million jobs implies that over 63 per cent of the jobs that came back were of these essentially informal forms of employment. This is not very different from the recovery seen in May as well when this category accounted for 68 per cent of the improvement. Nearly one third of the total employment in India is among these small traders and daily wage labourers. They are the ones who bore the biggest brunt of the lockdown. In April, which recorded the biggest fall in employment, they accounted for 75 per cent of all job losses. Now, as the lockdown is being lifted, they are the ones who are getting back to work. During May and June, they accounted for 64 per cent of the recovery in jobs. While all kinds of jobs have been lost during the lockdown, jobs in farming have been rising. The rate of increase of farming jobs has been rising too. In May, employment in farming increased by 1.4 million over its level in April. In June, the increase over May was a massive 11.8 million. While the average employment in farming in 2019- 20 was 111 million, in June 2020 it was 130 million. Employment in farming in June 2020 at 130 million was 16 per cent higher than it was in June 2019. A sharp increase in MGNREGA spending by the government has also contributed to the improved employment situation in May and June. Person-days employed under MGNREGA were a record 568 million in May implying a y-o-y increase of 53.8 per cent. It was 441 million in June implying a y-o-y increase of 37.2 per cent. Evidently, a combination of MGNREGA and increased kharif sowing has spurred the employment market in June. Of the 70 million jobs that were added in June, 56.4 million or 80 per cent were accrued from the categories of small traders, daily wage earners and small farmers. The remaining 20 per cent increase was accounted for by mainly business persons. A large proportion of business persons are also self-employed entrepreneurs. The number of business persons who reported being employed increased by 10 million in June compared to May 2020. They account for nearly 15 per cent of the increase in employment in June. The number of persons employed as business persons had increased by 5.5 million in May as well. As a result, much of the loss of employment recorded in April among business persons has been recovered. Of the 18.2 million job losses here 15.8 million have been repaired. Progress of recovery of jobs has been the weakest among salaried employees. 17.7 million salaried jobs were lost in April. This loss increased to 17.8 million in May. This is the lowest increase in jobs. Of the 70.5 million jobs recovered in June, only 5.5 per cent were of salaried employees although salaried jobs account for 21.3 per cent of all the jobs (Vyas, 2020).

Even when things become normal, employers will reevaluate their workforce and there will be people who will be laid off. The impact of the pandemic will be significant on employment and employment opportunities. (Sharma, K., 2020).

According to a research by Boston Consulting Group, it is estimated that by 2020, India will have a surplus of active population of about 60% of total population (Duggal, 2014). By 2026, around 64% of population of India is expected to be in category of active population, with merely 13% aged above 60 years. This phenomenon for an economy when majority of its population is active is referred as the stage of reaping demographic dividend. Demographic potential offers India an unprecedented edge over other western economies and India is expected to enjoy benefit until 2040 (Planning Commission, 2013). Such increasing percentage of active population will provide India an opportunity to improve labour productivity, boost production and within next 10–15 years, position itself among developed countries of the world (Chenoy, 2012). There is need to create shared job framework that brings much needed alignment between supply and demand. National framework and infrastructure for skill development that aligns occupation codes, entry gate assessment and exit gate certification is needed. This framework should allow real time interfacing between demand and supply side of labour markets to not only enable better matching but allow changes to curriculum, job descriptions, job posting and assessments early enough to matter (Sabharwal, 2013).

According to World Economic Forum (WEF) report (2016), workplace innovations such as remote working, co-working spaces and teleconferencing, mobile internet and cloud computing are expected to be biggest drivers of change in global employment scenario. Technological and socio- demographic factors are further expected to change employment dynamics, impacting job functions, roles and skills by 2020. Consequently, nature of jobs by 2030 will be substantially shaped by rapidly evolving pace of technological change. India is poised to become the third largest economy by 2030, with one of the largest and youngest workforce in the world. The country will reportedly need to create jobs for around 100 million people who enter job market over next decade. This will require major overhaul in country‘s job-creation and skill-development framework in order to make workforce ready for evolved nature of jobs. Indian education and training system has a huge potential for skill development. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has projected an incremental requirement of 347 million skilled personnel in high growth sectors in India by 2022 but country is faced with significant skill development challenge as over the next decade, every year approximately 12 million people are expected to join the workforce.

Youth employment is one area in which India needs to go a long way. For quite some time, India focused and to some extent succeeded in creating high-end jobs created by intensive capital, both domestic and foreign. After COVID-19, the strategy should be to develop policies and institutional frameworks to create entry-level, mid-level and low-end jobs in large numbers, mostly in rural and semi-urban areas (Vinod Kumar, 2020).

Entrepreneurship

The way entrepreneurial business models and approaches are affected by the pandemic will have an impact on how entrepreneurship is perceived as a job choice in future. While large number of start-ups has suffered during the pandemic, COVID-19 has also led to increase in entrepreneurial activity. Companies and individuals across the world have rallied to respond to, and where possible, tackle this crisis. From start-ups and individuals producing and selling face masks and shields to their local communities to local transporters turning into grocery delivery companies, the nature of innovation is often incremental but at same time, essential for survival and adapting to our ―new normal‖. It is certain that the way entrepreneurial businesses are affected today will have impact on how entrepreneurship is perceived as job choice in future (De Cuyper, Kucukkeles & Reuben, 2020).

Some might argue that the crisis could negatively impact risks associated with entrepreneurship and hinder start-ups in attracting right talent; others might suggest that today‘s changes could alter perceptions of entrepreneurship for the better and could lower threshold of entrepreneurship for many and stimulate people to start their own businesses. With so many large institutions shedding talented and well-qualified employees, perhaps this COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath will encourage more people to take on risks associated with entrepreneurialism when they think they have identified or discovered an opportunity (De Cuyper, Kucukkeles & Reuben, 2020). The structure of the job market has changed in recent years with technology having slipped into almost every aspect of our daily lives. With Make in India initiative, came rise of start-ups and students started to become more inclined towards becoming entrepreneurs (Chakraborty, 2016).

Entrepreneurs are vital to competitiveness of the economy.

Gains of entrepreneurship are only realised, if business environment is receptive to innovation. Entrepreneurs are equally important when the economy is doing badly. When unemployment is high and economy is contracting or stagnating, dynamic entrepreneurship could help turn the economy around. By developing novel products or increasing competition, new firms can boost demand, which could create new job opportunities and reduce unemployment. If entrepreneurs are consistently encouraged, in bad economic times as well as good, then all businesses are kept on their toes, motivated to work continuously to improve and adapt (Kritikos, 2014).

Entrepreneurs introduce innovations and induce economic growth

Entrepreneurs create new technologies, develop new products or process innovations and open up new markets (Audretsch, 2002). Radical innovations often lead to economic growth (Valliere & Peterson, 2009).

Entrepreneurs increase competition

By establishing new businesses, entrepreneurs intensify competition for existing businesses.

Entrepreneurs have positive employment effects

Entrepreneurs stimulate employment growth by generating new jobs on entry (Fritsch, 2012).

New businesses boost productivity

Competition between new and existing firms leads to survival of fittest. Even if overall employment declines, new firms can foster productivity (Geroski, 1989).

Entrepreneurship encourages structural change

Existing firms struggle to adjust to new market conditions. They fail to make internal adjustments and lack ability for ―creative destruction‖ (Schumpeter, 1934). Entrepreneurs may create entirely new markets and industries that become engines of future growth processes.

A severe level of unemployment is main reason why in 2020 idea of entrepreneurship is fast growing among young people. Entrepreneurship can help battle youth unemployment in India. It is important to teach young people entrepreneurship – to equip fresh graduates to start and run their own enterprises – to be job creators rather than job seekers. This is an important step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat!

The proposed model in connection with 4 Es and 5 Pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat shows direct linkages. Development of infrastructure will facilitate economy and vice versa. Similarly, enhancement of infrastructure is essential for facilitating the education at all levels, inducing employability. Properly framed systems can create appropriate educational interventions which lead to employment and put employability to optimal use. Demographic configurations should be taken into consideration for creating employment and entrepreneurship. Ultimately it is demand which will enhance entrepreneurship and accelerate the economic growth and development.

Conclusion

India with it young population has good opportunity to attain status of Atmanirbhar Bharat in a short span of time. This needs focused and sustained effort to reform education system, which creates not only employment but employability and entrepreneurial skills through preparing demographic units into thinking, problem-solving and decision-making individuals. Entrepreneurship can help battle youth unemployment in India. It is important to teach young people entrepreneurship – to understand what it is and how they can use it. This will equip fresh graduates to start and run their own enterprises – to be job creators rather than job seekers. The base of 4 Es, Education, Employability, Employment and Entrepreneurship are imperative in building self reliant Atmanirbhar Bharat and should be interwoven properly to support five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat, by capitalising on human assets of India with economy occupying the pivotal position for taking a quantum leap forward. Remaining four pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat, namely, Infrastructure, Systems, Demography and Demand are directly related to 4Es for their inputs and enhancement.