Independent India may have started out as a country that lived in its villages but today all the evidence suggests that Indians are increasingly shifting to cities. And there is a big reason for this shift: Jobs. Rural India and the farm economy can neither create the millions of jobs that Indian need nor provide the kind of incomes that Indians aspire to earn. Cities, on the other hand, can become bustling centres of not just job creation but also skill development. Yet, as things stand, many cities are struggling to provide employment opportunities for India’s youth.

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the state which not only has one of the biggest economies within India but also one where the government is working towards the ambitious target of becoming a trillion dollar economy. Such a goal will require UP to more than treble its state GDP over the next five years.

Cities such as Lucknow will play a crucial role if such a transformation has to come about. But what is Lucknow doing to prepare itself for this change? How are other cities in UP going to play their part? Is enough being done for improving the skills of UP’s youth? Where are the gaps in creating new job opportunities and how can the process be improved?