Governments need to focus on skill development: PM

23 Jan 2012 Evaluate

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has expressed his concern over the state of skill development in the country. He said that there was an urgent need to provide skill training to India’s growing youth population and asked ministers to step up their efforts and set ministry-wise targets for skill development in the run-up to the Union Budget in mid-March and propose ambitious skilling initiatives in the 12th Plan (2012-17). He asked the ministers to especially consider the skilling needs of people belonging to SC, ST, backward classes, minorities, women and those with disabilities and focus on sectors like infrastructure, real estate, auto and auto components, textile, healthcare, retail and logistics.

The Prime Minister was of the view that any social and economic policy of inclusive development could not ignore the fact that a significant proportion of India's citizens were forced to take up unskilled work because they lacked the education and skills required for taking up economically and professionally rewarding employment. In his opinion the country could reap a demographic dividend only if the youth was educated and possessed skills required for earning a decent livelihood.

Skill requirement studies estimate that India will require around 26 crore skilled people by 2018 and around 34 crore by 2022 which means that there would be a need to provide quality training to around eight crore people in the next five years. This requires a focused and target oriented approach from the Central and State governments backed by matching outlays. The PM is all for it and has said that any such proposal will be looked at ‘favourably’ by the government and announcements could be made in the budget for next fiscal, to be unveiled in March.

Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director of National Council on Skill Development  (NSDC) opined that, “if there is a service tax exemption (for NSDC and other training providers) it will help bring down fees for skill training programmes and thereby incentivise more students to enroll for such programmes”. If the proposals go through, students enrolling in courses like software, retail and fashion can expect to pay a lower course fees.

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