India must get over its defeatism on manufacturing.

It is heartening to note that one of the first things Prime Minister NarendraModi did after returning to power is to set up a new cabinet committee for promoting employment and skill development. It has been tasked with overseeing “skill development aimed at increasing the employability of the workforce for effectively meeting the emerging requirements of the rapidly growing economy and mapping the benefits of demographic dividend”. This acknowledgement that India needs to create millions of jobs for its youthful population, and the fact that this is one of the government’s top policy priorities, should bring an end to the partisan polemical debate of the past few years on whether or not enough jobs were being created.