Skill India to begin in April to train youths

The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana or the Skill India programme will be rolled out in April with an aim to train lakhs of youths across the country to become telecom operators, beauticians and retail sellers among others. "Every parliamentary constituency will have a model skill centre. Hard skills are already being imparted in various Industrial Training Institutes (ITI). We are now working on providing courses for training on soft skills in service sectors like health, telecom, beauty and wellness as well as retail,” Union Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy told Deccan Herald. India would require 581.89 million people at work by 2022, which is an increase of 119.2 million from the 2013 figure. The government assessment showed that the beauty and wellness sector needs 14.27 million skilled workers in 2022 from 4.21 million in 2013. Similarly, the retail sector would need an extra 17.2 million by 2022 from 38.6 million. Telecom sector would also need 2.1 million extra hands by 2022. Rudy said his ministry’s focus is at the bottom of the pyramid. "There is high demand for entry level jobs,” he said. Identifying the need for a defined ecosystem for skills, the minister said there was no central structure for skilling until now and the Modi government has managed to take steps to address the issue. At present, he said, 24 ministries are holding 70 schemes and the biggest challenge is to give a defined ecosystem for skills. "The ministry has now decided to give statutory backing to the National Framework for Skill Development. In a month or two, we will bring legislation,” he said. The Skill Development Ministry is also working towards creation of a common certification board for various skills, he said adding this would be an autonomous body. DHNS