SKILL INDIA

Skill India is a campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi on 15 July

2015 which aim to train over 40 crore(400 million) people in India in different skills by 2022. 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".

Skilling is building a better India. If we have to move India towards development then skill
development should be our mission”-Prime Minister on August 15, 2014

India is at the cusp of demographic transition wherein 65 per cent of the population is in the
working age 1559. This offers a unique opportunity to become the skill capital of the world
to meet the skilled manpower requirements of ageing economies by appropriate skilling in
consonance with the standards accepted across countries. India is at the cusp of
demographic transition wherein 65 per cent of the population is in the working age 1559.
This offers a unique opportunity to become the skill capital of the world to meet the skilled
manpower requirements of ageing economies by appropriate skilling in consonance with
the standards accepted across countries.

As per the National Youth Policy, 2014 all young persons in the age group 15-29 years
constitutes youth population which is a diverse group with varying needs, aspirations and
requirements. The youths as per 2011 Census comprises of 28 per cent of the population
contributing about 34 per cent of India’s Gross National Income (GNI). The contribution of
youth to the GDP can be increased by increasing their labour force participation and their
productivity.1 The need of the hour is to empower youth to achieve their full potential and
to enable India to be the leader in supply of skilled labour force.

The demographic advantage that India enjoys is not uniformly distributed across the
country. There is a clear divide between peninsular India comprising of West Bengal,
Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and the hinterland states viz. Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. While the peninsular states show a pattern
closer to China and Korea, with sharp rises and declines in the working age population, the
hinterland states remain relatively young and dynamic, characterized by a rising working age
population for some time, plateauing out towards the middle of the century.2
Demographically therefore, there are two India’s, with implications for policy responses viz.
a soon-to begin-ageing India (peninsular India) where the elderly and their needs will
require greater attention; and a young India (Hinterland States) where providing education,
skills, and employment opportunities must be the focus. However, mobilizing the youth for
vocational education/ skill development is difficult in these States due to lack of willingness
to migrate, inability to pay for training, lack of employers endorsements, low literacy level,
lack of awareness, among others. The question of empowering the youth necessitates a
glance into the youth participation in the labour market.

Initiatives for Employability

To harness the demographic advantage and making youth employable, National Skill
Development Mission together with new National Policy for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship was launched in 2015. The mission is focusing on creating a pipeline of
skilled people; upskilling and reskilling to align supply for demand; advocating National Skill
Qualification Framework to facilitate certification according to common and global
standards; connecting and matching supply and demand and catalyzing the
entrepreneurship. The various initiatives/ programmes focus on synergy across ministries,
mobilisation and engagement, global partnerships, outreach and advocacy, use of ICT,
training of trainers and taking measures for improving access and outreach of programmes
by various disadvantaged groups. There is a big push for vocational education both in terms
of capacity and quality improvement by reorienting the vocationalisation of school
education from class 9 onwards and involving the industry in course curriculum, practical
training and facilitating teachers training; reforming and reorienting Industrial Training
institutes in terms of industry driven relevant curricula, flexi MOUs with industrial partners,
greater use of technology in delivery and better industry connect through sector skill

councils; Focus on apprenticeship training with dedicated web portal and flexibility to hire
apprentices; New institutions in terms of multi skilling institutes in PPP mode for better
industry connect and addressing the skill requirement of changing world of work. Skill
universities are being envisaged to develop a large pool of qualified instructors, conduct
research in curricula and pedagogy in vocational education and provide oversight over skill
institutions. The various initiatives by 20 central ministries including Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship can be broadly categorised as general programmes,
region specific and sector specific programmes for enhancing the employability of the
youth. There are more 13000 than institutes, about 4000 polytechnics and more than 20000
vocational training providers catering to different skill needs. They are facilitating
individuals to realise their full potential through a process of lifelong learning wherein the
competencies are accumulated through instruments such as credible certification, credit
accumulation and transfer. Given that large proportion of work force is employed in
informal sector with limited skills and are required to be assessed for certification, the
recognition of prior learning under PMKVY is an important step for inclusion of such workers
through skill upgradation and reskilling. The PMKVY is providing second chance to high
school drop outs to enter the labour market with employable skills. However, this requires
strong advocacy to promote paradigm shift in the labour market to make skill training
aspirational. The National Skill Development Agency is taking forward the systemic
interventions viz. National Skill Qualification Framework which facilitates both horizontal
and vertical mobility and makes skill aspirational; Common Norms for various Central
government driven programmes for uniformity in cost, duration and curriculum; Labour
Market Information System to address the information asymmetry for different
stakeholders; monitoring the progress of skilling in the country etc. The National Skill
Development Corporation is catalysing the private sector efforts for ramping up the
infrastructure as also the actual delivery of training to be able to achieve the targets set in
the policy, 2015. The Sector Skill Councils, industry led bodies, are facilitating linkage of
training with demand through development of course curriculum helping in assessment and
certification. Government has launched skill loan initiative with the objective of facilitating
poor students attending skill development programmes. Although necessary policy and
programmatic interventions have been undertaken but much more needs to be done to
leverage the youth power through appropriate skilling for economic development. The key
elements of strategy for leveraging the youth power are discussed.

How skill India is set to

revolutionize the future
of India
There are Corporates who have come forward to address the issue of Skills
gap in the country, and are doing their bit to fill that void with a trained and
certified labor force. However, there are various aspects to this mission that
need proper consideration in order to maintain its successful
implementation.
Over the past couple of years, the Government of India has come up with various initiatives like
the ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, and ‘Skill India’ campaign – with a singular aim to solve major
challenges which could hinder the progress of our country. Although all three hold equal
importance and are co-related, the ‘Skill India’ Mission has come across as most vital since its
vision is to upskill the citizen of India to create a skilled workforce that can positively impact the
nation’s growth.

Since its launch in July 16, this mission has garnered lots of support from various industries and
initiators – Government or otherwise, who have come forward to address the issue of Skills gap
in the country, and are doing their bit to fill that void with a trained and certified labor force.
However, there are various aspects to this mission that need proper consideration in order to
maintain its successful implementation.
 Upskilling more than 40 crore individuals in multifarious fields by the year 2022 can seem like an
achievable task on paper, but it is actually far from it. Undertakings of such magnitude need
constant deliberation and have to be improvised at each step to counter every challenge on its
path to success. Furthermore, it is predicted that the government may have to devote more than
INR 8 Lakh Crore to this mission gradually over the next 8 years in order to accomplish this task.

However, things have begun to look promising on this front ever since the Budget for 2016 was
announced, with the Ministry of Finance allocating over 1000 Crore for this mission. Additionally,
the ministry has also announced some provisions for initiatives under this scheme – INR 1700
Crore have been set aside for skilling institutions under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
(PMKVY scheme). The main objective of this funding is to support development of infrastructure
in this field which can help skill more than 1 Crore youth within the next 3 years.

India currently holds the distinction for being one of the youngest nations in the world, i.e. largest
youth demography. According to a report by The Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship, over 54% of India’s total population is below 25 years of age, and over 62% of
the population comes under the working age group (15-59 years). It also predicts that our
country’s population pyramid is expected to swell across the stated working age over the next
decade. However, this is projected to last only till the year 2040. Thus, it has now become a
matter of extreme importance for India to utilize its demographic dividend and overcome the
Skills gap within a limited timeline.

Over the past couple of months, we have witnessed that ‘Skill India’, in general, has been talked
about on numerous occasions, specifically on how this mission can achieve its target. Most
people now have a general idea on the extent of this initiative and how it has helped thousands
of individuals to become job-ready professionals with proper training. Now, we are going to
explore how this comprehensive pan India movement can play an integral part in reforming the
future of our country.
 Increase in Rate of Employment: So far, the Job market in India was mostly comprised
of candidates who, despite being well educated, lost out on several opportunities because they
may have lacked the skills required for a specific job profile. With the ‘Skill India’ initiative,
individuals can get appropriate training across various fields from designated skill development
institutions, and become job-ready prior to venturing into professional realm.

 Increase in Productivity: Through Skill development, individuals will be able to

gradually improve their productivity with proper guidance, which can further maximize their
efficiency. Since the mission aims to create a skilled workforce – this factor can greatly improve
the situation of India’s labor force and help in accelerating the growth of our country manifold.

 Enable the youth to get Blue-collar Jobs: The PMKVY scheme under ‘Skill India’
Mission can enable the youth to get several blue-collar jobs since those who undergo training
under this initiative receive an official certificate upon successful completion of the same. This
can validate their training and also help them get access to better job prospects.

 Skill development at primary & secondary education level: The ‘Skill India’ mission
encourages and promotes skill development at school level in order to further bridge the skills
gap. Doing so can help create job-ready individuals in the near future – enabling them to embark
on their professional journey without any hurdles on their way.

 Improve employment scenario within rural demography: Since the problem of skills

gap is mostly prevalent within the rural population of India, it has become extremely important to
upskill this section and recognize their skills in order to improve their employability. With ‘Skill
India’, many individuals from rural regions have been able to secure well-paying jobs after
undergoing training in various programmes, and/or further honing skills which they may have
acquired at some point in their life. If this trend continues, the rural demography will be able to
significantly contribute its share in furthering the development of India to greater extent.

Although it may seem like a difficult task to achieve, the aforementioned facts can surely restore
the faith of people within the system as well as for this mission. Therefore, we can say that these
factors can certainly help ‘Skill India’ in revolutionizing the future of India – creating a workforce
that can overcome any challenges, and contribute significantly to the nation’s economy.