5 years of eventful journey of Skill India has seen the expansion of skill training and inculcation of entrepreneurial spirit.
A digital conclave was organized today to mark 5 glorious years of the Skill India Mission and the World Youth Skills Day.
In his message to the Conclave, the Prime Minister exhorted the youth to skill, reskill and upskill in order to remain relevant in the rapidly changing business environment and market conditions. He congratulated the youth of the country on the occasion and said the world belongs to the youth due to their ability to acquire new skills all the time. He stated that the Skill India Mission launched five years back on the same day has led to the creation of a vast infrastructure for skilling, reskilling and upskilling and enhancing opportunities to access employment both locally and globally. The detailed text of the Prime Minister’s message can be seen at:
On this occasion, Union Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr.Mahendra Nath Pandey said that our youth is the biggest asset and an important force in the economic growth, and social development of the country. We will focus our energies on increasing the versatility of different skills, making them suitable to meet the industry demands with the support of new technologies, nationally and globally.
The Minister of State for Power, New & Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, R.K.Singh also addressed the Digital Skills Conclave. On this occasion, the Directorate General of Training started two regional offices, which were e-inaugurated, one at Union Territory of Leh and another at the northeastern state of Manipur. The Lt. Governor of Leh RK Mathur inaugurated the Leh branch. A few State Skill Development Ministers also addressed the Digital Skills Conclave via video messages. These include Minister from Gujarat, Karnataka, Assam, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The inaugural address was given by Secretary, MSDE Praveen Kumar. Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation A.M.Naik also addressed the conclave. All stakeholders of the system, including the extensive network of trainees going into lakhs, participated in the conclave. An audio-visual was shown about innovative solutions by skill trainees during COVID-19 while another audio-visual was also played on Skill Mapping.
The 5 years of the Skill India Mission have been worthwhile and seen a large number of achievements, including the expansion of skill development infrastructure and facilities, and inculcation and support of entrepreneurial spirit:
Skill India Mission: The efforts of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and other Central Government Department Ministries involved in skilling saw more than one crore youth joining the Skill India Mission every year, to meet the demand of Skilled Workforce.
Increase in ITI capacity: There has been a substantial increase in the size of the ITI ecosystem, close to 5000 ITIs have been established over the last 5 years with a total number of institutes close to 15,000. The enrolled candidates have increased to 27.56 lakh in these ITIs over the last 5 years. The ITI capacity has been increased to 34.63 lakhs, an increase of 85.5% over 2015. Upgradation of ITIs has been undertaken through 63-course curricula upgraded with industry consultations, 35 new trades and 11 Industry 4.0 courses being introduced.
Training Under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):
- Under PMKVY, a total of 92 lakhs candidates have been trained so far across 37 sectors in more than 250 job roles PMKVY is a flagship scheme under MSDE.
- A special focus was placed on the agricultural sector and 3.42 lakh were trained in special farming. Some special projects were also taken up under which 5514 Jail Inmates and 5549 misguided youth were trained in Delhi.
PMKK: To improve the quality of short-term training, 720+ Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras as Model Skill Centres were opened in 704 districts in India. These are based upon Aspiration, Quality and Self Sustainable principles.
International Collaboration: Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurshipmet officials from counterparts working in skill development across countries like Singapore, UAE, Japan, Canada, Australia to further build capacity for skilled workforce in the country, jointly work on transnational standards and bridging demand for skilled workforce in these countries by collaborating with them and supplying them with trained professionals.
Increased participation in Apprenticeship Programmes: Various initiatives taken on the Apprenticeship intervention saw a 44% increase in enrolment of apprentices and 10% increase in establishments participating in apprenticeship training, as compared to FY 18-19. A total of 8.61 lakhs people have been engaged under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) with around 85,000 establishments hiring the apprentices.
Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Scheme: During the last financial year, a total of 4.10 lakhs beneficiaries trained under JSS Scheme as compared to 1.67 lakhs trained during 2018-19, 2.5 times increase over a period of six months.
eSkill India Platform: In a technology-driven environment, e-learning is pivotal in deepening the reach of skilling opportunities for the Indian youth. NSDC created an e-Skill India, a multilingual e-learning aggregator portal, providing e-skilling opportunities to the Indian youth. eSkill India leverages the skilling opportunities from Indian and global leaders in online learning, by consolidating online courses curated by leading knowledge organizations that share NSDC’s commitment of making India a Skill Capital of the World. eSkill India provides anytime, anywhere skilling —beyond the boundaries of location and time. The courses are available in English, Hindi and 9 regional languages. The learners are guided through self-paced interactive videos and quizzes. The portal has more than 500 courses and closes to 2.5 lakh students have registered themselves on it
Vision Report 2025: MSDE has prepared its Vision Report 2025 in consultation with various stakeholders. The Draft Vision Report 2025 was discussed in multiple review meetings held under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, MSDE along with the heads of various wings of the Ministry and attached organizations viz. DGT, NSDA, NSDC and NIESBUD &IIE.
Initiatives for Women:
To mark the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020, a two-year programme namely Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme was launched by MSDE at IIM Bangalore, Karnataka. The fellowship programme has been conceptualized under the World Bank loan assisted Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) Programme. Out of the total 75 Fellows selected, 32 are women candidates (43 % of the total).
Initiatives for COVID-19:
- A Task Force of the Ministry, which was constituted to plan the strategy in light of COVID, has submitted its report on 16/4/20, with its recommendations in the various areas including steps needed to be taken urgently for the growth of the sector, strategies for Framing Policies which were facing obstacles, preparation of Business Plan for Sector Players to start functioning, steps that Ministries can take for encouraging Make in India and to secure and increase India’s share in World exports.
- While the Ministry had made available all campuses of NSTI/ ITI for isolation/ quarantine facilities, as per reports received so far, 12 NSTI/ ITI buildings have been requisitioned by the District Authorities in light of Corona. Similarly, PMKVY training partners have also provided their premises for such facilities, including for a temporary hospital.
- Institutions under MSDE ecosystem have been active in manufacture of masks and hand sanitizers. While the JSSs have so far made more than 30 lakh masks, the ITI system has built more than 20 lakh masks, PMKVY Training Partner made 20 lakh masks. Total 70 lakh masks were created to support the local administration.
- A number of innovations have been done by ITIs and NSTIs to assist the fight against COVID-19. These include design and development of design robot (to serve food/ medicine to patients) and tele-presentation robot (for enabling telemonitoring and telemedicine) by ITI Cuttack. ITI Berhampur designed an Aerosol Box which tightly protects the face of the health provider. NSTI developed an aero blaster and handed it to the District Administration for sanitizing the city.
SWADES: A collaborative initiative of the Ministries of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Civil Aviation and External Affairs, SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) is a skill mapping exercise of the returning citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission. SWADES aims to create a database of qualified citizens based on their skillsets and experience to tap into and fulfil the demand of Indian and foreign companies.
ASEEM: In order to improve the information flow and bridge the demand-supply gap in the skilled workforce market, MSDE recently launched ‘Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities. The Artificial Intelligence-based platform has been envisioned to strengthen workforce career pathways by handholding them through their journeys to attain industry-relevant skills and explore emerging job opportunities. 24 lakhs candidates trained under the PMKVY and Fee-based courses are available on ASEEM. 1.5 lakhs candidates trained in ITIs under Directorate General of Training have also been added and data captured under SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) is available for employers. Also, working on adding data of all the 1.2 Crore candidates trained under PMKVY 2.0.
