Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any country. They have become even more important given the increasing pace of globalization and technological changes provide both challenges that is taking place in the world. Countries with higher and better levels of skills adjust more effectively to the challenges and opportunities of globalization.

As India moves progressively towards becoming a ‘Knowledge economy’ it becomes increasingly important that the Eleventh Plan should focus on advancement of skills and these skills have to be relevant to the emerging economic environment. In old economy, skill development largely meant development of shop floor or manual skills. Even in this area there are major deficiencies in our workforce which need to be rectified. In new or knowledge economy the skill sets can range from professional, conceptual, managerial, operational behavioural to interpersonal skills and inter-domain skills. In the 21st century as science progresses towards a better understanding of the miniscule, that is, genes, nano-particles, bits and bytes and neurons, knowledge domains and skill domains also multiply and become more and more complex.