SME Times News Bureau | 19 Feb, 2020
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on
Tuesday organized a day long consultative workshop in New Delhi on Tuesday, with representatives from
States and Union Territories, to review skill development across geographies
and segments and to seek their valuable suggestions on streamlining the
upcoming initiatives.
The key thrust of the workshop was to increase the
participation of the District Committees for better coordination of the skill
efforts in each district and to achieve the broader objectives of making India
the skill capital of the world.
During the workshop, Vision 2025 was also
discussed which lays out the key focus areas and ready-to-implement roadmap for
promoting Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in country.
The aim for organizing today’s workshop was to
unlock the true potential of the youth by making skills aspirational and
building sustainable livelihood pathways for them.
The State and Union Territory representatives
shared their regional perspective on the various aspects of the Skill India
Mission including Apprenticeship, Long Term Skilling; Sankalp and Strive
initiatives; Entrepreneurship; Short Term Skilling and the next stage of the
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), PMKVY 3.0 and the related
challenges and opportunities.
The center proposed that the District Skill
Committees (DSCs) should be further empowered with substantial fund allocation
to ensure stringent monitoring and evaluation of skill training under the next
phase of PMKVY.
Towards this, MSDE has recently introduced the
Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF), an initiative designed and
implemented by IIM Bangalore in collaboration with State Skill Development
Missions (SSDMs), where fellows will be posted in district for 2 years working
closely with the district administration to create specific State Skill
Development Plans.
Relevant local and state level programs will also
receive additional funding under the SANKALP scheme of MSDE, beyond the already
allocated state incentive grants.
The workshop also deliberated on integration of
skill development in the plans of Gram Panchayats ensuring last mile
connectivity.
Urging the states to increase scale and standards
of skill development, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister for Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship said, “Our endeavor is to move away from the low skill
equilibrium and contribute towards economic growth and wealth creation through
skill development and entrepreneurship. This will eventually lead to increased
employment prospects for the youth of the nation.
The success of Skill India is dependent on the
increased participation of the States and the District committees to drive
demand-driven skill development in market relevant courses and prepare our
youth to be industry ready.”
“There should consistent research and analysis on
skill gaps at a local level, so that our strategies match the demand of the
market and the aspiration of the youth. We should enable industry surveys to
enable outcome-based skilling,” said R K Singh, Minister of State (IC) Power
and New & Renewable Energy, MoS in the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship.
MSDE assured its support to States in keeping
pace with the industry best practices by enabling upgradation of Industrial
Training Institutes (ITIs) and encouraging more participation from industry
giants.
Initially, MSDE will focus on the top 500 ITIs,
on the basis of the grading of these institutes, and will also determine
surplus existing capacity for Short Term Training in ITIs. MSDE has also
identified 100 industrial clusters for improved and broadening Apprenticeship
training. Out of these, agreements have already been signed with eleven
clusters.
To promote entrepreneurship in the country, the
Ministry proposed entrepreneurship development unit in each State which will be
anchored with State Skilling Mission.
It also proposed developing mentorship and
handholding of existing and new entrepreneurs, through district
entrepreneurship incubation lab in existing skilling institutions.