The quality of human capital in India can play a vital role in transforming its economy and overtaking China in the growth rate

Every crisis comes with an opportunity. India today is at the cusp of a major transformation that has the potential to make hera global leader. India's greatest asset is human capital that has the potential to make a difference to the emerging world order. More than 300 million people are part of the skilled domestic workforce in the country.

India today has a diversified pool of quality, ready to meet the needs of an expanding economy. In the past decade, a million Indian students have pursued education at universities abroad. This pool will be a great strength for India if we are able to engage with them and show them the emerging opportunities. In comparison to China, Indian professionals have a better talent perception rating and India's global perception, as per Pew Research, adds strength in terms of engagement. We need to focus on developing leadership skills from the schooling stage.

Our education system revolves around the colonial and socialist era that focuses on creating educated labour rather than entrepreneurs and domainexperts. A major drawback of this ecosystem is its inability to help students learn from failures. The education system has limited flexibility for students to pick their subject combinations from the available options. We need a model of pedagogy that facilitates engagement, quality of teaching and creates diversity of streams and effectiveness of ability for application of learning. The present model fails to build self-confidence and independent thinking. Emphasis on bookish knowledge and assessment of what children donot know should be replaced by building an understanding of various subjects, ability to integrate and apply learnings in form of projects.

We lack in our world view and the ability to link macro-economics and micro business strategy. The key area of deficiency is social skills and the ability to build collaborative networks to expand opportunities.

Economic growth thrives on trust, collaborationand capability. Our education system is key to building a social quotient and interpersonal skills to drive collaboration, innovation and change. Our growth depends on our ability to collaborate. Lack of emphasis on building social skills, participation in sports and extracurricular activities hampers the ability of youngsters to interact, get different insights and become more confident about themselves through such interactions and presentations. Such skills form the core for leadership and enterprise building to be successful in other professions as well.

Universities need to be developed as centres of excellence with direct support from the HRD ministry and international partnerships.We need to create the right funding and support system to develop enterprise and research. The system should be friendly for growth and not marred by red tape. India needs to initiate a national integrated education policy that encourages cross country cultural and social exposure for graduates and post-graduates from different parts of the country to get exposed to work being done by their peers in other states and develop a strong understanding of cultures of different parts of the country. Activities related to sports and National Cadet Corps should be included in the curriculum.

It is time for an India Sovereign Wealth Fund with focus on start-up incubation and modernizing the education system with emphasis on teaching quality, research facility and technology support. Indians can reach their potential only by showcasing the ease of business in tier-2 cities and the talent pool available there. Each Indian state will have to create the right environment for expansion of business and the mobility of working professionals and students.

India has everything that is required to take advantage of the changing world order inthe post-pandemic era with a changing global economic and geo-political order. A very positive and significant development has been India receiving nearly $82 billion in foreign investment in 2021. Efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former President Donald Trump to get QUAD into action for safeguarding economic, security interests and Trump's personal effort to rename 'Asia-Pacific' as 'Indo-Pacific' and thereby bringing India the world's most crucial geo-economic region holds enormous potential that will unfold in the years to come.

Time has come for India to position itself as a world economic power beyond just the label of a "market" or "source of cheap talent". It is time to embark on One Nation - One HRDInitiative focusing on quality.

To paraphrase Swami Vivekananda, we will be remembered for what we are and we have the power to make ourselves whatever we wish ourselves to be.

(The writer is an expert on Leadership Development currently a Country Manager for India with a Global IT firm. The views expressed are personal.)