Essay on Skill India Mission

skill indai

By Sathyavathi

essay on skill india

 

Essay on Skill India Mission – Today, India is on the cusp of demographic dividend. Demographic dividend or advantage occurs when a country’s working-age population is higher than the dependent population. Thus the number of youth is higher than the number of children and retired people. Many countries have reaped the benefits of having a large pool of a young population. Their economies grew at a faster rate. But rapid growth cannot be achieved with the population advantage alone. We need economic reforms and should motivate people to reach higher, come up with innovative ideas, and take bold decisions. With this perspective, the government of India launched the Skill India mission on 15 July 2015.

 

Objectives of Skill India mission:

  1. We are struggling with the academia-industry gap for years now. Though the number of colleges has mushroomed, students are not job-ready. They lack the skills that the workplace requires. The Skill India campaign aims to train over 40 crore people in different skills by 2022.
  2. The program not only wishes for employment but also strives to broaden the mindset of the youth. For actual progress, we need good entrepreneurs and scientists too.
  3. It also has provisions for the economic empowerment of the underprivileged youth such as skill loan scheme and aims to mitigate poverty.
  4. Through Skill India mission, the government wants the youth to meet both local demand and rank well on a global scale. For this, we have entered into partnerships with foreign countries and global companies.

 

Initiatives and schemes under the Skill India mission:

  1. The National Skill Development Corporation India (NSDC) was set up. It is a Public-Private Partnership Company. It provides vocational training, capital grants, and industrial counseling. Thus the youth can directly contact the industry people to learn and seek solutions.
  2. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): Under the PMKVY scheme, various types of short term trainings are provided to unemployed youth. They are certified and also have placement opportunities.
  3. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana: This is an employment scheme meant exclusively for the poor rural youth. This is a crucial program as we have about 55 million youths from low-income families in rural India.
  4. Green Skill Development Programme: It offers courses in green skills. Green skills are those skills that help in preserving the environment and also vie for a sustainable future. Practical sessions on biodiversity conservation, waste management, natural resource utilization, handicrafts business, etc., are covered under this program.

There are many other initiatives like craftsmen training scheme, apprenticeship training, skill development for minorities, financial assistance for people with disabilities, etc.

 

Progress of Skill India mission

As per the Press Information Bureau, more than one crore youth have joined the program and are benefitting from it. The government has signed Memorandums of Cooperation (MoCs) with countries like Japan, Russia, and the U.K. India participated in World Skill competitions and won various accolades.
However, according to many economists and the industrial data, joblessness is on the rise. Though the number of people who acquired skills increased manifolds, only a few of them (around 30%) could get jobs. It implies that the government has to focus on job creation urgently.
There are also reports that the schemes are ridden with scams, and the agents have created several fake beneficiaries.
We can conclude that the schemes are excellent and very much required. But we need a central mechanism to monitor their implementation and track the outcomes.

 
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