Skill India celebrates its 1st anniversary today, govt launches five initiatives

Kolkata/New Delhi, July 15 (IBNS): Marking the first anniversary of the 'Skill India' initiative, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) under the leadership of Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) on Friday announced the launch of five major initiatives reinforcing his ministry's commitment to the youth of India. These initiatives are Pradhan

Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana -2, India International Skill Centres, IndiaSkills Online and a Labour Management Information System (LMIS); which were inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The President also inaugurated the first edition of “IndiaSkills Competition” on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day which will begin tomorrow and be held over July 16-17, 2016, at Pragati Maidan. More than 4820 candidates had registered to compete in 24 skills across 80 regional rounds to win their way to the IndiaSkills Competition 2016. This is a huge opportunity for youth to qualify for a global platform like WorldSkill International Competition which will be held in Abu Dhabi in 2017. Congratulating everyone on the anniversary of Skill India, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “Skill India Mission is like a “Start-up” of Hon’ble Prime Minister for us, and during this last one year, every day has been enterprising for me. My Ministry is a live example of an early stage venture that I and my 35 Co-founders (All the officers and employees of the Ministry) have cherished, have been excited about, experienced nervousnes for, but truly enjoyed it.” “We are thankful for the enormous support that we have received from the Hon’ble President of India, who helped us in reaching out to 1500 employees at Rashtrapati Bhawan and certify them under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component of PMKVY, across 18 job roles and is today a part of our celebrations," he further added.

 Rudy congratulated all on this day and urged everyone to contribute to Skill India efforts and motivate the youth to get skilled and make India a skilled and prosperous society which has respect for all.

The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which was launched last year, has secured an approval from the cabinet for its 2.0 version with an outlay of ₹12,000 crore for the next four years to train a total of 1 crore youths over the next 4 years (April 2016 to March 2020). This is an endeavour by MSDE to scale up the reach of PMKVY and at the same time strengthen the system and make these trainings more effective with robust monitoring and outcome. PMKVY. Last year’s edition of the scheme saw training of close to 20 lakh youth in 2015-16 while the overall achievement of the ministry stood at 1.04 crore trainings across ministries.

The event also saw the announcement of 50 India International Skill Centers that are slated to be open by the end of this year. In the initial phase, 15 centres have been launched on Friday byMukherjee, across the following eight sectors: Domestic Workers, Healthcare, Retail, Security, Capital Goods, Automotive, Construction and Tourism & Hospitality.

These will be set up through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and will be implementing the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY) to the youth seeking global mobility for jobs. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shall provide support for Pre-Departure Orientation Training, which includes language and soft skills training modules. The first 15 will be the following States: Uttar Pradesh (6), Kerala (2) and one each in Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradhesh/Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. 

The President also launched a single window platform to aggregate supply and demand trends in the Indian skill development ecosystem, referred to as the National Labour Market Information System (LMIS) - www.lmis.gov.in

LMIS is an integrated set of institutional arrangements, procedures, mechanisms and data systems designed to produce labour market information as per global standards and best practices. The system brings together statistical (quantitative) and non-statistical (qualitative) information concerning labour market actors and their environment and generate key analysis and reports which can be used for various policy interventions by different government stakeholders, as well as by the industry at large.