The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted in 2025 puts the unemployment rate for the 15-29 age group at 9.9% - much higher than the overall unemployment rate of 5.5%. 

The draft youth policy is being prepared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It highlights emerging sectors like the digital economy, startups, green skills, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), say officials.

The proposed policy focusses on six areas. “These are skilling and employment readiness, entrepreneurship and innovation, education, health and well-being, environment and climate change, and youth leadership and volunteerism,” a senior official at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports told The Secretariat.

Experts, however, say policy design was never the challenge. 

The National Youth Policy 2014 had also aimed at employability through skilling, entrepreneurship, and better linkages between government, educational institutions and industry. But youth unemployment is still high. 

With at least 65% of India’s population below the age of 35, can the new youth policy help tap this demographic advantage? 

Shaping The New Policy

The government is still inviting suggestions for the new policy.

The public is being consulted via the MyGov platform, the Mera Yuva (MY) Bharat portal, Central ministries, state governments and union territories, youth organisations, and other stakeholders, the official said.

"The objective is to move beyond a guiding document and adopt an outcome-based approach," the official said.

Policymakers will track implementation with the Youth Development Index prepared by the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), the NITI Aayog's Output Out-Out Monitoring Framework and MY Bharat's real-time dashboard.

New Language, Familiar Priorities

The new framework aims to equip young people for the labour market where AI literacy, digital entrepreneurship, and green jobs are becoming key factors, rather than primarily focusing on traditional vocational education. 

The changes in India's economy are reflected in the draft policy, but many of its core elements are not new. 

The 2014 policy had also identified education, skill development, entrepreneurship, health, sports, community engagement, and youth participation in governance as its focus areas. 

It too had called for better industry connections, bolstering of apprenticeship initiatives and targeted outreach to young people as well as enhanced oversight of government initiatives. 

The policy also highlighted the need to strengthen employment linkages between institutions and employers to enhance employment opportunities and entrepreneurship support providing financial facilities, incubation and mentoring. 

The 2014 framework called for greater monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of entrepreneurship schemes and youth development programmes. 

The new policy builds on many of the old ideas but adapts them to an economy dominated by AI, digital platforms, and industries related to climate change. 

Going Beyond Coding

Co-opting AI into the plan is indicative of the fast pace of change in labour markets. 

Employers are increasingly looking for digital skills as well as content and process skills when hiring graduates, both within and beyond the industry. Concurrently AI is establishing the development of new job categories that go far beyond software programming.

Parishrut Jassal, Co-founder of GovernAI, believes the policy should recognise this shift by expanding its definition of AI skilling.

"The proposed National Youth Policy is a significant step towards preparing young Indians for the future of work, but its skilling agenda must extend beyond coding and software development,” Jassal told The Secretariat. 

“The policy should incorporate AI governance, algorithmic auditing, and AI ethics to prepare professionals who can oversee AI systems for fairness, safety, and compliance."

He stressed the importance of data privacy and regulatory compliance as part of technical education, especially in the light of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) rewriting the regulatory landscape. 

To protect the interests of young entrepreneurs, the government should create regulatory sandboxes for young AI startups, so that young entrepreneurs can experience the products tested by the governance and compliance system before going to the market, Jassal added. 

He argued that India has a huge scope to build AI developers as well as a human workforce that can also govern and regulate the usage of AI.

Employment Needs Multiple Pathways

Experts say employability for the youth should not be looked at in isolation.

Mitali Nikore, a Gender Economist, said, "Sports is one area where greater investment, particularly at the state and district levels, can build discipline, resilience, and adaptability - qualities that employers increasingly value.”

“The youth are looking for multiple avenues to channel their energy. We should also significantly strengthen the creator economy by investing in common infrastructure for rural creators so that they can improve the quality of their content and build sustainable livelihoods,” Nikore told The Secretariat.

She said AI skilling must be accompanied by efforts to bridge India's digital divide. "All companies are looking for young employees who understand AI tools. But many women and young people from underserved communities still lack access to these opportunities. Bridging that divide should become a priority," Nikore told The Secretariat.

Gap Begins in Classroom

Experts point to a mismatch between education and skills on the one hand and labour market demand on the other. They argue that the problem begins early - in the education system.

Professor Sidharth Mishra, an academician and columnist, believes India's youth unemployment challenge stems less from a shortage of degrees and more from the quality of higher education.

"The problem of unemployment emerges from the huge mass of 'uneducated' youth. By uneducated, I mean degree holders who never underwent academic rigour and therefore lack subject knowledge and genuine professional skills," Mishra said.

He said the National Education Policy 2020 was introduced with the right intentions, but its implementation has been inconsistent. “We now have a large number of degree holders who lack a basic understanding of their subjects. The implementation of the NEP has to be revisited."

Implementation Is Key

In the last 12 years, artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, startup ecosystems, employment related to climate change, and the creator economy have become key drivers of growth. The draft youth policy attempts to capture these changes.

It aims to expand the country's focus on skilling, making it more relevant for employment. 

But the bigger problem is still the same. While policy documents in India acknowledge the significance of skills, entrepreneurship, and youth engagement, it is much harder to define what they mean in terms of employment outcomes. 

The success of the new policy could be determined by its implementation rather than its vision.