National Skill Development Mission: Government Plan Programme Policies for UPSC Exam
Government Plan Programme Policies for UPSC Exam
::National Skill Development Mission::
The National Skill Development Mission will provide a strong institutional
framework at the Centre and States for implementation of skilling activities in
the country. The Mission will have a three-tiered, high powered decision making
structure. At its apex, the Mission’s Governing Council, chaired by the Prime
Minister, will provide overall guidance and policy direction. The Steering
Committee, chaired by Minister in Charge of Skill Development, will review the
Mission’s activities in line with the direction set by the Governing Council.
The Mission Directorate, with Secretary, Skill Development as Mission Director,
will ensure implementation, coordination and convergence of skilling activities
across Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments. The Mission will
also run select sub-missions in high priority areas. Further, the National Skill
Development Agency (NSDA), the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and
the Directorate of Training will function under the overall guidance of the
Mission. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) provides
a natural home for the Mission, organically linking all three decision making
levels and facilitating linkages to all Central Ministries/Departments and State
Governments.
The majority of India’s vast population is of working age. Urgent and effective
action to Skill India is needed to capture the demographic potential of India’s
youth. Based on data from the 68th Round of NSSO, it is estimated that only 4.69
percent of India’s total workforce has undergone formal skill training, compared
with 52 percent in the USA, 68 percent in the UK, 75 percent in Germany, 80
percent in Japan and 96 percent in South Korea. Despite efforts to hasten and
scale up skilling through the creation of the National Skill Development Fund (NSDF)
in 2009, the launch of the NSDC in the same year, and creation of the NSDA in
2013, progress to date has been sporadic. India continues to face a skilling
challenge of vast proportions. Based on the Census 2011 and NSSO (68th Round)
data, it is estimated that 104 million fresh entrants to the workforce will
require skill training by 2022, and 298 million of the existing workforce will
require additional skill training over the same time period.
Acknowledging the formidable scale of this challenge, the government has
notified the creation of the first dedicated Department of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship on 31st July, 2014, which became a full-fledged Ministry on 9th
Nov, 2014, with NSDA, NSDC and NSDF under its purview. Further, the Training and
Apprenticeship verticals, comprising of the entire network of Industrial
Training Institutes (ITIs) and Apprenticeship Training schemes, were transferred
from the Ministry of Labour and Employment to Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on 16th April, 2015. These changes have paved the way
for a new skilling ecosystem, with closer coordination across the public and
private sectors.