A nation is only as skilled as the people on its margins

For Pratibha Kalita, a 45-year-old artisan from a small village in Assam, weaving was integral to life, but only as a household skill and a means to clothe her family.

- Siddharth Sharma

With hands-on training - from refining her techniques and expanding her product range to learning brand building and business management, she transformed this generational craft into a thriving enterprise.

Today, Pratibha is a successful entrepreneur who, having secured her family’s future, creates livelihood opportunities for other women while continuing to remain a proud custodian of her heritage. Her journey is a testament to how skilling is more than just a pipeline to employment — at its best, it is also a vehicle to unlock agency, dignity, and freedom. As the late APJ Abdul Kalam so powerfully put it, “Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect.”

Skilling in India is often viewed through a narrow, purely economic lens—a vocational training course, a certificate, a job placement. Traditional approaches to skilling may ask, “How many youth did we train? How many jobs did we create?”

While important, these risk overlooking the soul of the matter. We need to understand what opportunities skilling unlocks for individuals.