Paper Title
Vocational Skill Development: An Analysis on the Percention and Impact among the Youth in Meghalaya

Abstract
There has been a great deal in trying to tackle the problem of unemployment and under-employment in India for many years, and it seems that through the vocational skill program the country is leaning towards some alternative solutions. A module that is used by many developed countries which is to focus on building the skills and knowledge of their population for accelerating economic growth and social development. India is a country with a great dividend in terms of its young population. The census of India in 2011 indicated that the number of young people aged below 25 years is above 50 percent of the total population with 229 million young person. With a growing young population accompanied with a growing economy, there is a need to expand the number of people who are equip to work and fill up the labour force. In meeting this demand, the Government of India has come up with an initiative to skill its growing young population through the vocational skill development programmes that has changed in its structure over the decade. To reap a rich demographic dividend, the country is endeavoring to train its working age population and create enough wage and self-employment opportunities for more than 10 million people in the coming years. This paper attempts to understand the perception of the youth leading towards the vocational skill education and its importance in creating employable youth in the region. Furthermore, the study also looks at the impact of the vocational skill training program on the youth, the responsiveness of different trades in the region with gender and also highlights the existing gaps and limitation within the skill program initiative along with the difficulties faced during the covid19 pandemic. Keywords - Vocational Skill Development, Youth’s Employment, Entrepreneurship