Haat bazaars, the open-air trading centers that have traditionally served the local people in villages may be converted into marketplaces for jobs soon, according to an Economic Times report.

Industry associations and the government plan to create nodal points in the rural haats that exist in each district, in order to help the village youth in finding jobs, acquiring skills and also for undergoing reskilling, if required, to suit a particular work role. 

Explaining the thought behind the initiative, Shobha Mishra Ghosh, a senior director at FICCI was quoted as saying: “The idea is to bring in job providers, who can even be local employers, and job seekers at the haat level to facilitate employment creation in the country”.

These rural haats are held quite regularly – from once to even thrice a week – and in some places, fortnightly. Lately, the nodal points are also being used to generate awareness about the government’s flagship programmes. 

At the 10th Global Skills Summit held in New Delhi, the idea of leveraging rural haats is to be discussed, wherein government officials and top industry leaders would consider the challenges around India’s skilling industry. The focus shall be on figuring out how to align skilling’s four pillars: training, placement, mobilization, and monitoring. 

The summit, which has been organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), will also delve into other key aspects like the future of work in India, developing benchmarks for skills and productivity, new-age skills which the younger generation has to acquire for becoming employable, and the link between entrepreneurship and jobs.