Excerpts from Economic Survey 2022-23 on skilling, apprenticeship and livelihoods

The Survey says that with the establishment of a Central Ministry, efforts to improve and streamline the skilling ecosystem were ramped up as the government launched the National Skill Development Mission as well as the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Under the NEP 2020 also, there is a special focus on vocational education and skill development. Integration of vocational education with general education and mainstreaming of vocational education have been identified as the key reform in the education System of the country. The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman tabled Economic Survey 2022-23 in Parliament today.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) FY21 shows that formal vocational/technical training among youth (age 15- 29 years) and the working population (age 15-59 years) have improved in FY21 over FY19 and FY20. The improvement in skills has been for males and females, both in rural and urban sectors.

As per the reports of the fourth round of the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) (for Q4 FY22) in respect of establishments employing at least 10 workers in major nine sectors, 15.6 per cent of estimated establishments imparted formal skill training and 20.5 per cent imparted on-the-job training. The health sector had the highest percentage of estimated establishments imparting formal skill training (24.7 per cent) and on-the-job training (31.6 per cent), followed by financial services (20.4 per cent of establishments imparting formal training and 26.4 per cent imparting on-the-job training).

Skill Indian Mission

The Skill Indian Mission focuses on skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling through short term and long term training programmes. Under the Mission, the government, through more than 20 Central Ministries/Departments, is implementing various skill development schemes across the country. The advocacy of the programmes is being done through print media, electronic media, and State Governments’ campaigns. More and more areas are being aligned with the common framework spanning the skills ecosystem so that the outcomes of the Government skilling programmes are uniform across the skilling ecosystem.

The progress in some of these schemes:

Skill Development SchemeProgress
PMKVY was first launched in 2015. Presently, the third phase of PMKVY, i.e., PMKVY 3.0 is being implemented across the country since January 2021

PMKVY has two training components, viz., Short Term Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
 
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra set up at District level, are envisaged as state of the art, visible and aspirational model training Centres
* Between FY17 and FY23 (as of 5 January 2023), under PMKVY 2.0 about 1.1 crore persons have trained: 83 per cent certified and about 21.4 lakh placed. Under PMKVY 3.0, during FY21 to FY23 (as on 5 January 2023) 7.4 lakh persons have been trained, 66 per cent certified and 41,437 placed.

* PMKVY also provided training to Shramiks (migrant labourers) affected due to Covid-19. This component covered 116 districts of 6 States, viz., Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. As on 31 October 2022, 1.3 lakh migrants have been trained/ oriented (0.88 lakh in STT and 0.38 lakh in RPL).
Jan Shikshan Sansthan Scheme provides for a lump sum annual grant is released to Jan Shikshan Sansthans (NGOs) for skill training to non-literate, neo-literates, persons with a rudimentary level of education and school dropouts up to class XII in the age group of 15-45 years. The priority groups are women, SC, ST, and other backward sections of society.From FY20 to FY23 (as of 5 January 2023), 16.0 lakh beneficiaries have been trained of which 28.4 per cent are from urban areas and 69.0 per cent are from rural areas and 2.7 per cent are from tribal areas. Notably, 81 per cent of the trainees are women.
National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme provides financial support to industrial establishments undertaking apprenticeship programmes under the Apprentices Act, 1961.Since the launch of the scheme in 2016, as on 31 December 2022, 21.4 lakh apprentices have been engaged by Industries
Craftsmen Training Scheme provides long-term training in 149 trades through 14,938 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the countrySince 2015, 91.7 lakh students have been trained as on 30 October 2022.
Craft Instructor Training Scheme provides comprehensive training both in skills and training methodology is imparted to the instructor trainees to make them conversant with the methodology of teaching and techniques of transferring hands-on skills, to train skilled manpower for the industry.During the year FY22, a total of 8,847 trainees have been trained in various National Skill Training Institutes and Institute of Training of Trainers
Making India Skill Capital of the WorldWith an aim to make India a Skill Capital of the World and improve mobility of Skilled manpower the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) International has been set up, which aims to create a network of institutions across India. This network of institutions will be called as Skill India International (SII) Network. It shall be created through the empanelment of state-of-the-art government and private institutions.

* MSDE has also signed MoUs with 11 countries, Australia, Belarus, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Qatar, Switzerland, UAE, and the United Kingdom in the field of skill development and vocational education training.
* NSDC has also signed 18 B2B MoUs with countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.
Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) is a World Bank loan-assisted programme launched in 2018 to decentralise skilling initiatives and align skill development programmes with local demand and aspirations of the youth* Under the National Component and State Components of SANKALP, 64 and 700 projects respectively have been taken up in the area of Skill and Entrepreneurship development and strengthening of monitoring.
* 724 District Skill Committees (DSCs) have been constituted, which are mandated to plan, manage and monitor skilling activities at the District level

Livelihood and Skill Development Schemes in Rural India:

DAY-NRLM
The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), aims to enable economically weak households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities resulting in sustainable and diversified livelihood options for them. This is one of the world’s largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The cornerstone of the Mission is its ‘community-driven’ approach which has provided a huge platform in the form of community institutions for women empowerment.

Rural women are at the core of the program which is extensively focused on their socio-economic empowerment. Nearly 4 lakh Self Help Group (SHG) members have been trained as Community Resource Persons (CRPs) (viz. Pashu Sakhi, Krishi Sakhi, Bank Sakhi, Bima Sakhi, Poshan Sakhi etc.) help in the implementation of the Mission at the ground level. The Mission has mobilised a total of 8.7 crore women from poor and vulnerable communities into 81 lakh SHGs.


DDUGKY
Skill development has also been one of focus areas for the Government. Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), until 30 November 2022, a total of 13,06,851 candidates have been trained of which 7,89,685 have got job placements.