Castigates previous govt for failure to fulfil promise of setting up 1,500 ITIs and 5,000 skill development centres.
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made imparting skills as prime focus of his governance, a parliamentary panel has noted with regret that an assurance on the floor of Lok Sabha given as back as in 2010 to set up 1,500 ITIs and 5,000 skill development centres in public-private partnership was never realised.
Terming it a great set-back towards making the country a global economic and skill powerhouse, a 15-member Committee on Assurances headed by BJP's Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has said that while Modi government's
"National Skill Development Mission" as announced in July last was a welcome step, but in the absence of targets, a roadmap, productive tie-ups with corporates and institutionalised mechanisms, it will also go nowhere.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech has set aside Rs 1,700 crore for skill institutions. He said National Skill Development Mission has imparted training to 76 lakh youths and also announced setting up of 1,500 multi-skill training institutes.
"The idea is to capitalise on the demographic advantages. The objective is to impart skills to one crore youths in the next three years under the PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana," Jaitley added. Prime Minister Modi, who launched the Skill India campaign in July, announced that 40 crore people will be trained under it by 2022.
According to a government document, as opposed to developed countries, where the percentage of skilled workforce is between 60% and 90% of the total workforce, India records a low 5% of workforce, despite 20 ministries/departments running 70-plus schemes for skill development over past many years.
The document itself admits that insufficient focus on workforce aspirations, lack of certification and common standards and a pointed lack of focus on the unorganised sector were the primary reasons for the abysmal situation, keeping in view that more than 62% of India's population is in the working age group (15-59 years), and more than 54% of total population below 25 years of age. While this youth bulge is a boon for the country, the country's national security establishment a few years ago had raised an alarm that if rising youth population is not matched with equal job opportunities over next decade, it will pose an internal security challenge.
The parliamentary panel felt that in view of increasing role of private sector, the active partnership with it was necessary for the development of ITIs. Directing the ministry to remain extra careful, while making assurances on the floor of the House, to avoid instances of backtracking, the committee urged the government to expedite setting up of new ITIs in PPP mode with the requisite standards and tie-ups with corporate sector within and outside country. It also recommended that every precaution should be taken to ensure selection of appropriate location for the new ITIs.
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