Aiming to make India the “human resource capital” of the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that there is a need to train the country’s poor into a huge army of skilled workforce.
“India should emerge as the human resource capital of the world just how China has become a global manufacturing factory,” the Prime Minister said at the launch of the ambitious “Skill India Mission”, which is a part of the Government’s plan to skill 402.9 million people by 2022.
The Prime Minister simultaneously launched four major initiatives of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE): National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme, and the Skill loan scheme.
Under these schemes, the Government will provide financial assistance ranging from Rs5,000 to 1.5 lakh to 34 lakh youth seeking to attend skill development programmes over the next five years.
“I urge you to treat this movement as our war against poverty. India has the potential to provide a workforce of about 4-5 crore to the world if the capabilities of the countrymen are honed through systematic and rigourous training,” he said. Noting that the world and technology is changing fast, he said, “We need to have futuristic vision and prepare plans for the next 10 years.”
Advocating the need for regular interaction between industry and technology experts, the PM said, “We need to have a scientific approach to tackle the shortage of skilled manpower in the industry. Increased dialogue with the industry will help us identify the gaps, which we can bridge by training people.”
“Several developed nations have the wealth but no human resources, and this gap is only set to increase in the future. India is a young country and is developing. We can cater to this requirement if proper skills are developed in a scientific and well thought out manner,” he said.
Modi said that while the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) made a name for themselves globally in the last century, it is the turn of ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) to do the same this century.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the manufacturing sector is showing signs of revival aided by government’s Make in India initiative.
“Even in the environment where global growth is modest, India stands as a bright spot. Our services sector is almost going to touch double digit growth very soon,” said Jaitley.
“With economy recovering and picking up, with wages in our other competitive economies increasing hugely compared to the Indian economy, our opportunities are great. And when ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skilling India’ will converge, no doubt we have a great future ahead of us,” Jaitley said. Jaitley also said that India has surplus manpower, needed to be converted into a resource.
Earlier in the day, minister of state (independent charge) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy flagged off 150 skill vans to create awareness among masses about the new initiatives and policies of the skill development.
“These vans will drive through Delhi and NCR region to make people aware about our new policies, skill development mission and skill loan initiatives. We want to reach to the masses to educate them about our programmes,” he said.