India is a country of villages. Most of the population the country resides in villages. Due this fact the real face of our country is rural India as it represents 68.9% the total population. It is very essential to engage the rural youth in a productive way with their aspirations by providing them plausible opportunities for growth and well being. But in the globalized world, industries demand for more skilled workers. In addition to this technological change, particularly the development of ICT is occurring at extraordinary speed, requiring workers to have more and more multifaceted cognitive skills than ever. Hence, it is important to meet the challenges and prepare India’s rural youth with the proper education and skills they require to face the challenging world. There are many programmes formulated by the Government for their development but it is important to note that all of these programmes will be successful only if they are implemented properly. Hence, the paper will highlight the needs, challenges and scope of the skill development programmes.

Keywords: Rural, Youth, Education, Skill Development, Challenges.