PM asks ministries to prepare skill development plans

Concerned over the state of skill development, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the ministries to prepare plans for the next year with special focus on skilling needs of minorities, SC, ST and backwards.

Chairing a meeting of the National Council on Skill Development, he asked his Cabinet colleagues to focus on sectors like infrastructure, real estate, auto and auto components, textile, healthcare, retail and logistics.

Dr Singh asked ministers to keep in mind the skilling needs of people belonging to SC, ST, backward classes, minorities, women and those with disabilities.  

"I must say our efforts on skill development side so far have been rather tentative. We cannot let this state of affairs continue," he said.

The time is appropriate to set ministry-wise targets for skill development in the run-up to the Union Budget in mid-March, he said.

Skill requirement studies estimate that India will require around 26 crore skilled people by 2018 and around 34 crore by 2022, he said adding that there was a need to provide quality training to around eight crore people in the next five years.

"There is a significant gap between the requirement and the supply which unless checked will constrain our economic growth," he said.

Dr Singh also called upon the ministries to work closely with the states and to allow them to select training providers and trades and create a decentralised approval mechanisms.

The Prime Minister said with its youth bulge, the country can reap a demographic dividend provided that the youth are educated and possess skills required for earning a decent livelihood.

"We have the serious challenge of providing quality education and skills to about 85 per cent of the people aged between 15 and 59 years, who acquire less than 12 years of education.

"A social and economic policy of inclusive development cannot ignore the fact that a significant proportion of India's citizens are forced to take up unskilled work because they lack the education and skills required for taking up economically and professionally rewarding employment," he said.

Dr Singh said that while the government has set ambitious medium and long term targets for skill development, there is a need to see that the plans are backed by matching outlays.

"Naturally, we cannot achieve our goal with a 'business as usual' approach," he said.

He called upon the central ministries to scale up their skill development programmes substantially and propose ambitious skilling initiatives in the 12th Plan (2012-17).

"In the background of the 12th Plan that is being written, an inter-ministerial group has been set up recently to suggest appropriate strategies to achieve the task of transformational upscaling of skills.”

"I hope that the group would be able to quickly finalize its report, so that it may act as a major input related to skill development in the 12th Plan document," Dr Singh said.