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India must prepare its workforce to meet global needs in emerging sectors influenced by artificial intelligence and automation and orthodox fields such as healthcare, and authorities should work with industry to anticipate future requirements, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.
Jaishankar made the remarks at the launch of the Human Resource Mobility Forum, a two-day event aimed at highlighting legal pathways for migration and facilitating networking between foreign employers and Indians seeking jobs abroad. Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are the focus countries for the event.
Advances in AI and automation are set to transform labour markets, leading to significant changes in some occupations and the emergence of entirely new categories of jobs, while the green economy will create demands for new skills, Jaishankar said. Demands in orthodox fields will continue, with healthcare and care-giving services becoming important in nations with ageing populations.
“These developments require governments, industry, educational institutions and international organisations to work together much more closely than they have ever done before. We must develop mechanisms that anticipate future workforce requirements,” he said.
Steps should be taken for continuous learning and skill adaptation, as well as greater recognition of qualifications and competencies across countries, and workers must be “prepared not just for today’s opportunities, but also for the demands of tomorrow”, Jaishankar said.
Human resources have become a critical factor for economic development and access to skilled and adaptable talent is essential for sustaining growth and fostering innovation, he said. Mobility of talents is not just the movement of people, but it is also about linking workers with demand and creating pathways through which individuals can contribute to economic growth and social well-being, he said.
India already has 28 migration and mobility partnership agreements with 26 countries to ensure safe and legal migration, and several more are currently being negotiated. “Equally important is the collective responsibility of nations to combat illegal migration, exploitative practices, fraudulent intermediaries and human trafficking,” Jaishankar said.
He emphasised the use of digital tools for the governance of migration and said more than five million emigration clearances had been issued since the inception of the eMigrate platform.
The Human Resource Mobility Forum is an important platform as it brings together policy-makers, industry leaders and employers and creates opportunities to learn from experiences and explore new approaches towards mobility, Jaishankar said.
Sripriya Ranganathan, the secretary heading the consular, passport and visa division of the external affairs ministry, said human resource mobility has emerged as a defining feature of an inter-connected world by connecting talent with opportunity and addressing workforce challenges.
India is a trusted partner in meeting global demand for talent, she said. “As many countries confront demographic transitions and skills shortages, we see an opportunity to build demand-driven mobility partnerships that benefit workers, employers and economies alike,” Ranganathan said.
Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music.
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