NITI Aayog Finds Around 8.7 Crore Youth Not Studying, Working, or Undergoing Training

Gist A recent NITI Aayog report estimates that 8.7 crore Indian youth are currently out of education, employment, and training NEET . This highlights a severe gap in human capital utilisation, as financial constraints prevent these young people from affording additional skilling on top of their prior educational expenses. For UPSC aspirants, this data is critical for understanding structural unemployment, the challenges of realising India's demographic dividend, and the urgent need for subsidised, earn-while-you-learn models in public policy. Background NEET Not in Education, Employment, or Training is a demographic classification for individuals—specifically youth aged 15 to 29 —who are entirely detached from both the human capital formation process schools/training and the labour market, including the unemployed. The data stems from the 78th round of the National Sample Survey NSS conducted in 2021 . NITI Aayog , the government's apex public policy think tank, analysed this data in its latest report titled 'Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047' to evaluate the current workforce landscape and design targeted skilling interventions for India's future economic goals. Key Pointers Targeted policy design: To ensure high…