HRD Minister calls for greater industry participation in tackling skill development challenge

HRD Minister calls for greater industry participation in tackling skill development challenge

Says thrust is on vocational education to make youth employable.

October 1, 2013

Union Minister for Human Resources Development, M M Pallam Raju has called for greater industry participation in addressing the challenge of skill development. “The fundamental concept of India’s skill development agenda is that the Indian industry across various sectors should be actively involved” he said while delivering the inaugural address at the 6^th HR Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai.

Mr. Raju observed that India has not been able to leverage the opportunities provided by the globalization that resulted in a shift of manufacturing from developed nations to developing nations. “While China succeeded in transferring nearly 150 million people from agriculture to manufacturing, we could not do so, due to lack of skilled manpower” he said. 

The Minister pointed out that though the Indian labour force numbers around 500 million, only 14% of them are employed in the organized sector.  India is facing a unique employment paradox – where rising unemployment is coinciding with demand for skilled workers outstripping supply. The Minister further said that out of 4 lakh engineering students graduating every year, only 20% are employable.

“Recognizing the challenge, the government has recently revamped the Skill Development Architecture in India” said Mr. Raju.  He said, a Cabinet Committee on Skill Development has been formed and the National Skill Development Agency has been announced to coordinate the activities of 35 state skill development missions. It is targeted to skill 350 million people by 2022.

The Minister informed that a National Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme has been announced, which provides about Rs 10,000 as an incentive to the youth who voluntarily join skill development programmes.  He said there is a renewed thrust on polytechnic and a ‘Sub-Mission on Polytechnics’ has been launched where assistance is being given to state governments to start new polytechnics.

Mr. Raju said his Ministry has also introduced the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NVEQF) which aims to integrate vocational education with conventional education streams, to make the youth more employable. During the current year, 376 institutions have been given approval for running the NVEQF programme under the self financing mode.

Stating that “industries across the world are actively participating in the skill development agenda of their nations” Mr. Raju said the AICTE has launched the National Employment Enhancement Mission (NEEM) to encourage industry to take in apprentices.  He said the Government has also put in place a number of incentives for industry, such as weighted deduction of Income Tax, exemption from Service Tax and enabling employability skills to qualify as CSR expenditure.

CII’s HR Summit “Reviving Economic Growth by leveraging Human Capital” brought together the industry big-wigs, experts and policy makers to debate and deliberate on key challenges. Besides, Mr. Pallam Raju, Ms. Chanda Kochar, CEO, ICICI Bank and Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Express also spoke during the inaugural session.

PIB Mum/ Sonal / MD

Photo Captions

Union Minister for Human Resource Development  M. M. Pallam Raju at the 6^th H R Summit 2013 organized by CII in Mumbai on October 1, 2013.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development  M. M. Pallam Raju called for increased industry participation in tackling skill development challenge at the 6^th H R Summit 2013 organized by CII in Mumbai on October 1, 2013.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development  M. M. Pallam Raju, ICICI Bank CEO Ms Chanda Kochar, Indian Express Editor-in-Chief, Shekhar Gupta at the 6^th H R Summit 2013 organized by CII in Mumbai on October 1, 2013.