Chennai : Not even a single youth from Tamil Nadu received skill development training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana’s centrally sponsored state managed (CSSM) component.
The flagship scheme of the central government, approved for four years (2016-2020), has remained almost a non-starter in Tamil Nadu until this January, sources from the Union skill development ministry told. “Though training partners (TPs) were identified, affiliation and accreditation processes of various applicants (TPs) were still pending at various stages.”
Government records accessed by TOI revealed that nearly Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for training 1.4 lakh youths in Tamil Nadu under this component and nearly one-fifth of this amount was released. These funds remain unutilized.
Authorities from the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC), functioning under the state labour and employment department, attributed the delay in the process to frequent technical glitches that arises on the designated online portal (SMART), and various levels of standardisation were required before clearing the applications from interested TPs.
A technical team from New Delhi visited Chennai recently to fix these issues. The portal was unable to handle the excess load and it took a while for the team to make it work effectively, said a top official from the state labour department.
“Despite procedural delays in getting the approval, training sessions were started at seven centres for nearly 1,100 candidates from December. The ratification for running these centres was obtained just recently. Approval for another 24 centres, where another 3,600 would be trained, is expected in a week’s time,” the official added. The central government is already offering 2,000 training programmes through 800 centres in Tamil Nadu under the centrally sponsored centrally managed (CSCM) component.
States are not allowed to offer any of the programmes offered at these centres as per the scheme’s guidelines. So, additional efforts were taken to avoid course duplication and ensure that the programmes chosen were in accordance with the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), say TNSDC officials. Almost all the states except a handful faced similar issues under ths CSCM component of the scheme for which nearly Rs 1,495 crore has been allocated, say ministry sources. Skill development training programmes are offered in many sectors, including agriculture, construction, automotive, electronics and textile, through this scheme. The government pays nearly Rs 14,000 to train a person so that they become employable.
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