Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana: Skill Development Scheme

What is (PMKVY) Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana?

From all over the globe, Pradhan Mantri invited investors to India to invest and set up businesses by launching the Make in India campaign. An abundance of skilled labor has been promised by him in the country by this. The idea of skills development was complementary among the youth of the nation. This scheme PMKVY was thus prophesied as a basic measure to divulge skills-based training to young women and men, in order to make them capable to earn and support the nation’s anti-poverty endeavors. As India has the world’s largest youth population requiring employable skills,the scheme becomes all the more important.

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was given the official go-ahead by the Government of India on 20 March 2015 to formulate and implement the PMKVY through the National Skill Development Corporation. The total outlay of the scheme is about INR 1,500 crore, and it is likely to impart skills training to the 24 lakh youth of the country. PMKVY is supposed to focus on lower income groups and the Class X/XII dropouts. The scheme took over a period of almost three months to develop and its implementation started by early June 2015 in select states (primarily Bihar). 15 July is observed as National Skills Day, the day the scheme was launched in all states of the country. By early 2014, India’s unemployment rate averaged about 4.9 percent. This scheme is expected to bring that number down by a reasonable measure.

Skills Need Assessment

According to the plan of the scheme published in March 2015 by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, one of the main ideas of the scheme was to cover the skills training of about 24 lakh youth of the country. Imparting of the specific skills would be decided based on the NSQF (National Skill Qualification Framework) and would also be based on the feedback from various industries that would possibly employ the trainees.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has assessed the specific skills training to be imparted based on the demand in recent skills gap through a study conducted for the period 2013-17. Inputs of various industry and business heads were considered and central ministries and state government departments were also consulted. Assessment of various other skills required for flagship schemes such as Digital India were also done. Presently, by the skills training imparted under the scheme,about 428 job roles are being catered to.

Enrollment Process

In order to create awareness about the PMKVY, the government has partnered with various telecom operators. After the nationwide launch of the scheme, telecom operators are expected to send out mass SMS and will make available potential candidates with a number to call. Candidates are required to give a missed call to the number 1800 102 6000 (toll free), following which they shall receive back an automated call connecting them to an IVR. At this stage, the potential candidate needs to input his/her details into the system. The details entered will be recorded, and screened. Candidates who will be eligible to enroll for the training programmes will be given details of the nearest training center and will be requested to report at these centers on the training dates.

Implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

In accordance with the draft plan, the scheme was set in motion (in Bihar) and the NSDC partnered with 24 sector skill councils. About 1,17,564 people have already enrolled for skills training from all parts of the country as of 1 July 2015.For some 1,07,080 trainees, training has already commenced. NSDC’s training partner is undertaking the scheme’s implementation. There are about 187 listed training partners of NSDC with 2300 training centres spread out in the entire country. In selected states, the scheme is on a pilot mode, a nation-wide launch is expected in the near future.

For the scheme, the total outlay planned is over INR 1,500 crore, of which INR 1,120 crore will possibly be allocated towards the skill training of around 14 lakh youth. Moreover, INR 220 crore will be spent for the “recognition of prior learning”. The budget of the scheme includes INR 67 crore that is supposed to be spent on encouraging enrollment and spreading awareness.

This includes running awareness campaignsand implementing the website. In order to create awareness about the PMKVY scheme, the NSDC will partner with municipal organizations and state governments and extensively use the administrative machinery so as to mobilize candidates from the grassroots level. NSDC has also partnered with a number of business houses and corporates to garner mentorship for the candidates and to assure placements once the training is over. INR 67 crore has been allocated by the government towards this. The scheme has a special focus on the youth of the North Eastern region of the country. This region of India has been traditionally neglected and therefore a separate allocation of INR 150 crore has been made in order to train the youth of this region.

After the training, the candidates shall go through an assessment. Based on the assessment, at the end of the training a certificate of merit shall also be issued to candidates. NSDC has roped ‘Third party assessment bodies’ in order to assess the candidates on the acquired skills and they have thought to provide a monetary incentive or reward to exemplary candidates. The average monetary reward of about INR 8000 is likely to be given to each successful candidate.

Much focus is placed on the training partners. Before enrolment, these partner institutions have been studied and evaluated. Facilities related to ‘Digital training’ and able instructors are valued highly for the training sessions by the NSDC. The curriculum that has been developed is extremely relevant and competent in practical employability. State government agencies and sector skill councils will be constantly monitoring the training institutes and the training sessions. Feedback from the trainees themselves will also be asked for.

Latest Updated

The Union Cabinet sanctioned an outlay of Rs 12,000 crore on the first anniversary of the scheme’s launch in order to provide skills’ training to 1 crore people over the next four years.

Around 18 lakh candidates have been enrolled according to the government, and 17.93 lakh have been trained till July 18, 2016 under the scheme. It is further said that the number of minorities candidates trained under Kaushal Vikas Yojana are 2,37,067 and those certified are 1,48,351.

In the country,50 India International Skill Centres are going to be set up by the NSDC by the end of 2016. The centers will be providing training to retail,healthcare workers, tourism, security, capital goods, hospitality, construction,auto and domestic workers.

Schemes Launched by Modi Government