By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 31, 2016: ON the occasion of completion of two years of inclusive growth and development under the NDA government, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy, here yesterday said that more than 1.04 Crore youth have been trained under the Skill India Mission in the year 2015-16 which is 36.8% higher than the previous year's recorded data. In the current arrangement, 60 percent of the trainings are directly under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship while 40 percent are across other Central Ministries.

The Minister said that Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which was launched on July 15, 2015 by the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, alone has witnessed more than 20 lakh people, of which 40 per cent are women candidates, being trained in their choice of skills.

Mr Rudy further elaborated on the endeavors and achievements made under the Skill India programme saying that in the last two years, the skill training and development ecosystem has seen transformational change through concerted efforts in terms of initiatives such as PMKVY, new ITIs with private/ industry partnership, infusion of new ideas and finance through World Bank assistance, a paradigm shift in entrepreneurship education and development, amendments in Apprenticeship Act for increasing opportunities for the youth etc. He said, together, these have for the first time, brought in a new focus to skill development in the country.

The Minister said, at another level, there has been a consistent effort on coordination and convergence of innumerable schemes run by various Ministries and Departments across sectors and States, so as to bring them in conformity with the national standards, common norms and local requirements. He said, a slew of policy level changes have been introduced with the launch of National Skill Development Policy and Mission as well. Today, Mr Rudy said there are more than 1500 courses that have been aligned to National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

Emphasizing the need to have better connect of skills with employability, Mr Rudy mentioned that provision of a skilled workforce is a pre-requisite for a growing economy and success of various other initiative of the government such as Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, rapid highway constructions etc. and his ministry will ensure endeavors in this direction. He said, there have been MoUs with Central Ministries (including Railways, Defence, Health, Telecom, Power, Coal) to leverage existing infrastructure and opportunities for skill development across sectors. He said, 52 Skill Centres in Railway premises have been identified so far, of which 12 are already operational.

The Ministry has also created a new model for skilling of retiring defence personnel to meet the trainers demand in the ecosystem and has successfully completed a pilot with 56 IAF officers and provided them with training and placement letters.

Listing the achievements further made in the last two years, Mr Rudy said, the number of ITIs in the country has increased from 10,750 in May 2014 to over 13,105 in May 2016 and these will be further scale up to 18000 by September this year. More than 1141 new ITIs have been added and 1.73 seats have been increased in the last one year. MSDE has also enabled the opening up of 5 new RVTIs for women in skill development.

The Minister stated that the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is aiming extensive modernization of the existing ITI ecosystem and establishment of new ITIs and Multi Skill Training Institutes (MSTIs), so that more and more people get skills of recognized standards which will help them become more employable for the industries. The MSTIs will be set up in the unserved areas/blocks to improve the outreach of the Skill India initiative.

He also said that his Ministry is working towards the establishment of one Model Skill Center in each district of the country, which would be operational in more than 500 districts by March 2017. These will be high quality centers which will help make skill development aspirational and accessible.

In the private skill ecosystem catalyzed by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), 11 new Sector Skill Councils have been added making it to 40 sectors now and an additional 151 training partners have joined the ecosystem making the total to 267 partners.

The formation of the proposed National Skill Certification Board will result into a new era of training, assessment and certification where both government and industry will collectively enable a joint framework for quality skill training and certification.

Mr Rudy also emphasized the need for promoting entrepreneurship in the light of Stand Up India and Start Up India announced by the government. He said his ministry will work to deliver Entrepreneurship, Education and training in 2200 colleges, 300 schools, 500 government ITIs and 50 Vocational Training Centres. Aspiring entrepreneurs will be connected to mentors and credit markets.

Till date 4,82,079 entrepreneur trainings have been done by National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD). 83 percent of these have been trained through digitized entrepreneurship Orientation Programs.'