President Pranab Mukherjee here today inaugurated the first edition of “India Skills Competition” on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day in the gracious presence of Union Ministers Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Smt. Smriti Irani, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Dr Jitendra Singh and Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Today is the day when Skill India is also celebrating its first anniversary. Marking the first anniversary of the “Skill India” initiative, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) also announced the launch of five major initiatives reinforcing Ministry’s commitment to the youth of India. These initiatives are Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 2.0, India International Skill Centres, India Skills Online and a Labour Management Information System (LMIS). These initiatives were launched by the President Pranab Mukherjee.
Congratulating everyone on the anniversary of Skill India, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “Skill India Mission is like a “Start-up” of 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 nervousness for, but truly enjoyed it.”“We are thankful for the enormous support that we have received from the 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.
Skill India is seeing great traction and is all geared to meet its philosophy of speed, scale and standards ensuring there is opportunity to get skilled for all. In the past 15 days, MSDE has got cabinet approvals on 22,000 crore worth of outlay for programs like Apprenticeship Protsahan Yojana and PMKVY 2.0, to be implemented over the next few years. 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 today by the President, across the following eight sectors: Domestic Workers, Healthcare, Retail, Security, Capital Goods, Automotive, Construction and Tourism &and 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 VikasYojana (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 Pradesh/Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. Shri Mukherjee 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. The National Skills Development Agency (NSDA) is designated as the lead agency for the development of the national LMIS. NSDA is undertaking a phase wise approach for the integration of required data.
The inputs from 21 ministries, State Governments, National Skill Development Corporation and Sector Skill Councils is underway to be integrated in the national database on skilling. The core function of the LMIS is convergence of information such as data of Training Providers, Training Centers, Employers, Certified candidates, Candidates seeking Training etc. across Ministries/Departments/Geographies and Sectors. Another initiative of the Ministry leveraging technology to reach millions of skill seekers, the President announced the launch of India Skills Online (www.indiaskillsonline.com), an online platform for learning skills of choice. With the introduction of Online Skill-learning environment, the whole nation potentially becomes a classroom. The audio-video graphical illustrations format will help internalize the concepts for the skill-seekers, faster and longer. Online, the hard skills are supported by soft skill learning opportunities that help candidates become more confident, presentable, professionals. Skill India resolves to bridge the digital divide by providing basic digital literacy opportunities to all skill-seekers. Thus enabling them to become more aware, and better suited for the work environment of the day.
The web skilling opportunities, come coupled with the convenience of learning and practicing the skill-nuggets with the convenience of a mobile app. Thus increasing the accessibility, availability and personalization options in skilling. Earlier in the day MSDE and its partners from the skill ecosystem celebrated the day with great fanfare at multiple locations around the country. Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship flagged off a Skillathon (an awareness march) which began from India Gate, having more than 2500 youth participating in it and showcasing their solidarity towards the need and importance of skills. 40 smaller chapters of Skillathon 2016 were organised by partners of NSDC throughout Delhi and other parts of India celebrating World Youth Skills Day 2016. India Skills is a national competition steered by Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to select the best talent who will lead India’s participation at the biennial World Skills International Competition scheduled at Abu Dhabi in 2017. In order to select the best talent to represent India at IndiaSkills, MSDE and NSDC have completed more than 80 regional competitions in 24 skills/trades including hair stylist, welding, car painting, auto body repair, graphic designing, robotics to name a few.Close to 4820 candidates registered to participate in the competition this year. The competition will conclude with a closing ceremony on 17th July, 2016.