Skill India Campaign

On the occasion of the first ever World Youth Skills Day on July 15, 2015, the Central government launched Skill India Campaign. On this historic occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally unveiled the National Policy for Skill development and Entrepreneurship 2015 and launched ‘National Skill Development Mission.’

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is responsible for co-ordination of all skill development efforts across the country. It is observed that today the total workforce in the country is estimated at 487 million, of which approximately 57% is in the non-farm sector. If the workforce with higher education without formal skill training is excluded, the balance workforce is estimated to be 450.4 million.

Of these 256.72 million non-farm workers, a maximum of 5.4% would be formally trained and skilled (3.61% is based on 2011-12 NSSO survey and includes both farm & nonfarm). Approximately 241.86 million would either be unskilled or skilled through non-formal channels. Out of these, it is estimated that approximately 170 million would be in the age group 15¬-45 years.

New ITIs will be set up in PPP mode especially in unserved blocks of the country to expand outreach of skilling programmes. Further, higher order skilling will be promoted through Advanced Technical Institutes and Multi Skill Institutes (MSIs) set up in PPP mode with strong industry linkages.

State Governments would be encouraged to set up Kaushal Vardhan Kendras (KVKs) at panchayat level for mobilising and imparting skills pertaining to local employment/livelihood opportunities to school drop¬outs, adolescent girls, housewives and rural youth. Each KVK will be linked to the nearest ITI/MSI/ATI for capacity building, curriculum development, assessment and certification.

A National Skills Research Division (NSRD), will be constituted within NSDA at the national level. The role of the division will be to conduct skill surveys including aggregation of the environmental scans done by SSCs, study emerging demand trends, operate the LMIS and other skilling platforms and databases.

It may be recalled that the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana was launched to enhance the employability of Rural Youth which is the key to unlocking India’s demographic dividend. A sum of Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for this scheme; disbursement will be made through a digital voucher directly into qualified student’s bank account.