Cabinet gives nod to new skill and entrepreneurship policy

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to integrate skill development guidelines among 21 ministries and departments in order to streamline the Skill India mission and reap a better demographic dividend, finance minister Arun Jaitley said.

The Cabinet has also approved a new skill development and entrepreneurship policy to improve the efficiency of human resources, besides clearing the institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission in keeping with the commitment made in the Union Budget.

As part of the common rules of skill development, the hours and cost of training will become uniform. Currently, training courses offered by ministries range from 80 to 675 hours.

As per the new rule, a minimum of 200 hours’ training is required for fresh skilling courses and 80 hours for re-skilling programmes.




The vision of the new skill policy is “to create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale at speed with high standards and to promote a culture of innovation-based entrepreneurship, which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country”, a Cabinet statement said.

The National Skill Development Mission will have a three-tiered, high-powered decision-making structure. At its apex, its governing council, chaired by the Prime Minister, will provide overall guidance and policy direction.

The steering committee, chaired by the minister in charge of skill development, will review the mission’s activities in line with the direction set by the governing council. The mission directorate, with secretary-skill development as mission director, will ensure implementation, coordination and convergence of skilling activities across central ministries and departments as well as state governments. Despite efforts to hasten and scale up skilling through the creation of the National Skill Development Fund in 2009, the launch of the National Skill Development Corporation in the same year, and formation of the National Skill Development Agency in 2013, progress to date has been sporadic. It is estimated that only 4.69 per cent of India’s total workforce has undergone formal skill training, compared with 52 per cent in the USA, 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in Germany, 80 per cent in Japan and 96 per cent in South Korea.

India continues to face a skilling challenge of vast proportions. Based on the 2011 census and National Sample Survey Office data, it is estimated that 104 million fresh entrants to the workforce will require skill training by 2022, and 298 million of the existing workforce will require additional skill training over the same time period.