Bemoaning the wide gap between the skills required to work in the industry and the talents of the fresh graduates, former President Pranab Mukherjee urged the world-class institutions to focus on research and innovation so that India’s young population does not become demographic disaster.
Present at a graduation ceremony, Mukherjee said that during the time of his presidency he was distressed to see that none of the institutes from India made it to the rankings by the international agencies.
"I want each and every one (of the institution) be recognized worldwide and our academic performance should be at par with the institutions of world class," Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee further said that more than 50 percent of the population of India will be below 25-years of the age in 2022 and if we cannot provide jobs to them, cannot create employment opportunities and cannot skilled them match the job requirements we will have unemployed graduates and post-graduates as industries will suffer for the skilled worker.
"So these improvements have to be made. There must be a close nexus between the industry and the academic and these interactions will help the graduates coming out of the institutions find themselves employable," he said.
He also stressed that India is lacking in fundamental research and no Indian scholar working in Indian institution has been recommended for the Nobel prize after 1933.
Mukherjee asserted that policy makers, academicians and leaders from the education field will have to create an ambiance which will drive brilliant students towards the research and innovation.
"If we can develop a spirit of innovation, if we emphasize on fundamental research, I am sure this demographic dividend will be truly dividend for us and will not be a demographic disaster," he said.