Introduction:

• India is aiming to become a $5-trillion economy riding on the twin planks of a demographic dividend and digital transformation. In a changing workspace landscape, skill development is of utmost importance that requires the government, the industry and the academia to come together to ensure India's youth is equipped to make the most of the new opportunities.
• Reskilling the current workforce, training youth gearing up for their first jobs, upgrading and redesigning curriculums to meet the needs of the industry, and ensuring enough institutional infrastructure for imparting knowledge with the help of a passionate faculty, is the need of the hour to bridge the skill demand-supply gap and propel the economy to a new growth trajectory.
• India needs to find ways to empower its manpower with appropriate skills so as to help them find employment as well as meet the demand from its industries while also seizing global opportunities by supplying talent to the global job market.

Budget Proposals for Skill Development:

• The recent proposalsIn the Union Budget 2020-21 for skill development and education become relevant. The Budget lays special emphasis on the employability of India's young population and quality aspects of education by earmarking a total outlay of Rs.99,300 crore for the education sector in 2020-21 and Rs. 3000 crore for skill development. "By 2030, India is set to have the largest working age population in the world.
• Degree level full-fledged online education programmes will be started to provide quality education to students of deprived sections of the society as well as those who do not have access to higher education, especially in rural areas. However, these shall be offered only by institutions which are ranked within the top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, to ensure that the quality of education imparted remains high.
• A National Police University and a National Forensic Science University have also been proposed. In the domain of policing science, forensic science, cyber-forensics in the Budget, thus not only ensuring that the law enforcement forces are supported by technically qualified experts but ensuring that candidates get top-notch training in these institutions.

Making Rural Youth Employable:

• The government has been emphasizing on rural livelihood enhancement programmes, implementing them through different ministries. For development of rural areas through employment generation, strengthening of livelihood opportunities, promoting self-employment, skilling of rural youth, the Ministry of Rural Development Has been implementing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), DeenDayal Upadhyaya-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).
• DDU-GKY provides for a minimum placement of 70 per cent trained candidates for claiming full cost of project by Project ImplementationAgency (PIA). A total of 9.88 lakh candidates have been trained and 6.01 lakh candidates have been placed since 2014-15 till December 2019.
• The Ministry of Skill Development andEntrepreneurship is implementing its flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana(PMKVY) through National Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC), with the aim to provide skills training to 10 million youth by 2020. This scheme has two components- Centrally Sponsored CentrallyManaged (CSCM) being implemented by NSDC andCentrally Sponsored State Managed (CSSM) being implemented by State Skill Development Missions of the states/ Union territories.
• NSDC has facilitated creation of Sector SkillCouncils (SSCs) which are industry-led bodies to ensure addressing skill requirements of various sectors. The scheme promotes skilling of manpower in various sectors including agriculture through the Agriculture Sector Skill Council, thus helping rural youth acquire necessary skills that can lead to sustainable employment.

There are three kinds of training routes under the scheme:

• Short TermTraining (STT) for fresh skilling of school/college outs and unemployed youth, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to recognise the existing skills and Special Projects to address skilling requirements of the vulnerable groups and permit flexibility in conducting of Short Term Training. RPL under PMKVY has been able to undertake up-skilling of farmers via bridge course training through some of the projects. The scheme is being implemented across the country spanning 37 sectors including agriculture sector.
• Under the ongoing Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the GreenSkill Development Programme (GSDP) was launched in June 2017, on a pilot basis, at 10 locations, spread over 9 bio-geographic regions of the country to skillyouth in environment, forest and wildlife sectors
  and enabling them to be gainfully employed or self-employed.

Budgeting for Rural Employment:

• Several ongoing government programmes for rural livelihood have found special mention in theUnion Budget 2020-21, with the Finance minister enhancing the outlay for several schemes. Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural  EmploymentGuarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana - Gramin, Pradhan Mantri GramSadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Deendayal Upadhyay- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM)enhanced allocation has been made as compared to the previous year in the Union Budget. It reflects the commitment of the government to further improve the ease of living of the rural population on one hand and strong resolve to address the issue of rural poverty on the other.
• The Union Budget also proposes to bring a larger number of rural women within the fold ofDAY-NRLM. From existing 58 lakh self-help groups(SHGs), the number would be expanded to 78lakh by 2023-24. Out of this, 8,10,000 SHGs are being formed during the current fiscal. SHGs will be allowed to set up village agri storage facilities.
• Linking rural women from SHGs with village storage schemes to help them become 'Dhanya Will help in creating additional income opportunities for women.

Way forward:

• The above initiatives of the government indicate its resolve to not just create employment opportunities for India's youth, but also boost their job prospects through relevant skill training,thus unleashing India's youth power to take the economy to greater heights. Budget 2020 reiterated the government's focus on skill development,reforms in education and training, rural and social entrepreneurship and livelihood enablement.

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Courtesy: Kurukshetra