Context:

• The Industry is Entering the Fourth Phase of Industrial Revolution. The Introduction of AI, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, digitization and analytics are changing paradigms in Every Industry.
• As a result, skilling is no Longer a Luxury, but Mandatory for an Individual, the Industry and the Economy at Large.

Issues and Challenges in Skill Development:

• India has 62% of its youth in the working age group of 15-59. However, MSDE report states that only India’s total 69% of formally Skilled Workers compares unfavourably to UK’s 68%, US 52% South Korea’s 96% highly trained workforce.
• About two-thirds of Indian employers say that they constantly struggle to find workers with the right skills.Large sections of the educated workforce have little or no Job Skills, making them largely Unemployable.
• Another issue is lower participation of Female Workforce.
• Another lacuna in skill development has been Fragmentation of the Ecosystem.There was duplication of roles and responsibilities of different agencies.
• There are also the concerns of skill deficit in rural areas, which is essential considering that lives in its villages.

 Measures taken to Address the Issues:

• Skill India Initiative:
• It aims to train and empower the country’s youth to make them more employable and enhance their productive value.
• It aims to Impart Different Skills to over 400 Million People in India by 2022.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):

• It aims to enable a large number of youth in the country to take up industry-relevant skill training, which will help improving their livelihood prospects.
• It will also Help Transform its Demographic Potential into a Dividend to help fuel India’s Double Digit Growth in the Future.
• The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) set up as a public-private partnership (PPP) stimulates private sector participation in the India skill development sector.
• To achieve a desired talent pool, collaboration with the industry has been rolled out with different Sector Skill Councils (SSC) incubated by the NSDC for fostering industry connections and developing industry-relevant courses and curriculum.

• To establish global skill capital, the India International Skill Centre (IISC) programme has been launched. This involves providing skill trainings through the PMKVY and the Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana to those seeking global mobility and certification benchmarked to international standards.
• To increase the mobility of blue and white-collar Indian workers, government-to-government and B2B partnerships are also being sought and developed for new markets such as Western Europe, Canada, etc.
• In another major initiative, India has rightly undertaken Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to recognize the unorganized Workers Skills.
• Under PMKVY, the female workforce participation has also given the skillets. Many of them have also have been trained in unconventional roles, such as in the electronics and hardware sectors.
• Skill training in areas such as digital and financial literacy, entrepreneurship, website design, 2D and 3D design, and hardware repair and farm management are being offered to include and promote women in non-traditional areas.
• To address fragmentation of ecosystem, the government merged existing regulatory institutions in the skill development industry. The establishment of National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) paved the way for single regulator in the country instead of multiple authorities.
• The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDUGKY) trains unemployed youth under the BPL category on various skills in order to provide them employability.

Conclusion:

• Skill development must not be viewed merely as honing an individual’s expertise to make them employable.
• Instead, it is a multipronged strategy providing skilled manpower to Indian Industry, an essential input to the success of ‘Make in India’, to widen India’s export base, tap global Labour Market and an Antidote to Poverty Alleviation.