It includes various initiatives of the government like "National Skill Development Mission",

"National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015", "Pradhan Mantri Kaushal
Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)" and the "Skill Loan scheme".

With increasing political and economic pressure, the Indian

government has reportedly decided to create a hefty stimulus package to
revive the growth rate of the country’s economy. Amidst the slowdown,
how has the Skill India mission fared?

The structure of Skill India mission

The Skill India program was introduced on the 15th of July 2015 along
with the creation of the new National Policy for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship. The “demand-driven, reward-based” Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) flagship scheme was set up with a promise
to train over two million people in one year – the NSDC had in 2014-15
trained 1.3 million people. Under the mission, the previous target of
training 150 million people by 2022 was raised to a much loftier goal
of 400 million people by 2022.

The Skill India initiative was to ensure that the millions who enter
the job market untrained, receive formal skill-building opportunities.
Many hoped to be an improvement over previous skilling and vocational
training programs. A much-welcomed move, the policy still seems to be a
nascent stage of implementation and as a result, has had a limited
impact.

With a roster of schemes under its belt, the Skill India mission has
been similar to skill and vocational training programs of the past; big
investments but little impact. A government-appointed panel, headed by
Sharda Prasad, former head of the Directorate General of Education &
Training, raised questions about the efficacy of programs like PMKVY
and the short-sighted manner in which National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) and India’s Sector Skill Councils (SSC) operated in
a report published this May.

After ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India‘, the NaMo Government is to launch yet
another programme. This one is a revised version of programmes launched earlier
under the skill development policy. This new programme, called ‘Skill India’, is
supposed to be a multi-skill programme. It will be launched in March 2015. Like all
other programmes, ‘Skill India’ too is a dream project of Narendra Modi and the work
to launch this programme has already been initiated.
Objectives of ‘Skill India’
The main goal is to create opportunities, space and scope for the development of the
talents of the Indian youth and to develop more of those sectors which have already
been put under skill development for the last so many years and also to identify new
sectors for skill development. The new programme aims at providing training and skill
development to 500 million youth of our country by 2020, covering each and every
village. Various schemes are also proposed to achieve this objective.
Features of ‘Skill India ‘
 The emphasis is to skill the youths in such a way so that they get employment and
also improve entrepreneurship.
 Provides training, support and guidance for all occupations that were of traditional
type like carpenters, cobblers, welders, blacksmiths, masons, nurses, tailors,
weavers etc.
 More emphasis will be given on new areas like real estate, construction,
transportation, textile, gem industry, jewellery designing, banking, tourism and
various other sectors, where skill development is inadequate or nil.
 The training programmes would be on the lines of international level so that the
youths of our country can not only meet the domestic demands but also of other
countries like the US, Japan, China, Germany, Russia and those in the West Asia.
 Another remarkable feature of the ‘Skill India’ programme would be to create a
hallmark called ‘Rural India Skill’, so as to standardise and certify the training
process.
 Tailor-made, need-based programmes would be initiated for specific age groups
which can be like language and communication skills, life and positive thinking
skills, personality development skills, management skills, behavioural skills,
including job and employability skills.
 The course methodology of ‘Skill India’ would be innovative, which would include
games, group discussions, brainstorming sessions, practical experiences, case
studies etc.
How is it different from the previous skill development policies?
It’s not that we do not have any skill development programme already. The
Government of India has always considered skill development as a national priority. It
is just that since the ministry is new, the approach taken for skill development is also
new. Earlier, the emphasis was on traditional jobs. But this time, all kinds of jobs will
be given equal emphasis. Earlier, the responsibility was divided among various
ministries, but this time, these are being clubbed together. The ministry of skill
development and entrepreneurship will be the principal ministry which is going to
coordinate with other ministries and organisations.
According to NaMo, Skill India won’t be just a programme but a movement. Here,
youth who are jobless, college and school dropouts, along with the educated ones,
from rural and urban areas, all will be given value addition. The new ministry will be
the certifying agency. Certificates will be issued to those who complete a particular
skill or programme and this certificate has to be recognized by all public and private
agencies and entities, including overseas organisations. Skill India is a programme for
the entire nation.
Advantages of Skill India
The idea is to raise confidence, improve productivity and give direction through
proper skill development. Skill development will enable the youths to get blue-collar
jobs. Development of skills, at an young age, right at the school level, is very essential
to channelise them for proper job opportunities. There should be a balanced growth in
all the sectors and all jobs should be given equal importance. Every job aspirant would
be given training in soft skills to lead a proper and decent life. Skill development
would reach the rural and remote areas also. Corporate educational institutions, non-
government organizations, Government, academic institutions, and society would help
in the development of skills of the youths so that better results are achieved in the
shortest time possible.
To sum up
What shape ‘Skill India’ will take and what it will do only time can tell. But no doubt
it seems to be a good initiative – providing skills to people, especially because India is
one of the few countries all across the world whose working age population will be
very high, few years down the line, going by its ever-increasing growth of population,
as per the World Bank.
It is also high time now measures are taken to improve the physical and mental
development of the youths of the country so that none of them remains unemployed
and the country’s unemployment problem also gets reduced. It is time to open up
avenues by which the youth accepts responsibility and no one remains idle because an
idle youth is a burden to the economy. The economy should concentrate on job
creation and social security schemes. With this new approach towards skill
development, India can definitely move forward towards its targeted results.
NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT MISSION:

The National Skill Development Mission has been developed to create convergence
across sectors and States in terms of skill training activities. Further, to achieve the
vision of ‘Skilled India’, the National Skill Development Mission would not only
consolidate and coordinate skilling efforts, but also expedite decision making across
sectors to achieve skilling at scale with speed and standards.

National Policy for Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship, 2015:
The core objective of the Policy is to empower the individual, by enabling her/him to realize their full
potential through a process of lifelong learning where competencies are accumulated via instruments
such as credible certifications, credit accumulation and transfer, etc .

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana:

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) implemented
by National Skill Development Corporation. The objective of this Skill
Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up
industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood.
Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and
certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

SKILL LOAN SCHEME:

Purpose for which the loan can be availed: SBI Skill Loan Scheme aims at providing a loan facility to
individuals who intend to take up skill development courses as per the Skilling Loan Eligibility Criteria.

Why skill India?

About 64% of India’s population is expected to be in the working age group of 15-
59 years by 2026, according to Ernst and Young, a professional services
consultancy. India is expected to have the largest workforce in the world by 2025,
with an estimated two billion English-speaking people by the end of 2020.By the
same year, the world is expected to face a shortage of 56.5 million skilled workers,
while India is projected to have a surplus of 47 million, Indian
government statistics say.Yet, 30% of India’s youth are neither employed nor in
education or training, Bloomberg reported on July 7. Unless employed gainfully,
India’s “demographic dividend” can turn into a socio-economic nightmare.For
instance, 4.69% of India’s workforce is formally skilled, as against 52% in the US,
68% in the UK, 75% in Germany, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. In
fellow emerging economy China, skilled workers account for 24% of the
workforce.This is noteworthy because the largest contributor to India’s economy,
the services sector, requires highly-skilled workers. Manufacturing, which the
government is seeking to boost through its Make in India initiative, also needs
trained workers.To address this imperative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
launched the Skill India programme on World Youth Skills Day on July 15, 2015,
announcing the aim to skill 402 million people by 2022.

As India targets to becoming a global economic powerhouse, it needs to

equip its workforce with employable skills and knowledge to make India a
developed economy. India is today one of the youngest nations in the
world with more than 62% of the population in the working age group (15-
59 years), and more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of
age. In fact, in next 20 years, the labor force in the industrialised world is
expected to decline by 4%, while in India it will increase by 32%.
However, current statistics shows that only 2% of the total employees in
India have completed skills development training.
In today's age of globalisation and technological volatility, skill building is
an important instrument to increase the efficacy and quality of labour for
improved productivity and economic growth.
Skills and knowledge development are the driving forces behind the
financial growth and community development of any country. Skill
building is a powerful tool to empower individuals and improve their
social acceptance. It must be complemented by economic growth and
employment opportunities to meet the rising aspirations of youth.The
challenge lies not only in a huge quantitative expansion of facilities
 for
skill training, but also in raising their quality. India can then become the
global sourcing hub for skilled employees.

PROBLEMS FACED:

1. Targets were overblown, loans went unpaid:

The committee said Sector Skill Councils proposed “huge physical targets” of
training and certifying institutions and people – both trainees and trainers – on an
“arbitrary basis,” without formulating a sectoral labour market information system
and sectoral skill development plan. As a result, the quality of training, assessment
and certification suffered even as targets were shown to have been achieved, the
report noted.

2. Funds lined private pockets

The committee found that vocational trainers and assessing bodies were private
entities who utilised government funds, but the youths who enrolled did not get
proper training and were not placed. Nor were sector-wise skill needs met.

The National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme or STAR launched
in 2013 by the National Skills Development Corporation was “very ill conceived”
and poorly implemented, and displayed poor placement outcomes
3. Not enough trainers: The committee report highlighted that
many ministries lack training infrastructure and impart substandard
training. Some of the short-term courses offered are as short as eight
hours and neither meet the skills needs of employers nor provide decent
livelihood opportunities.