News: Upgrading skillsets: India Inc, Government join hands

Skilling

Upgrading skillsets: India Inc, Government join hands

At the National Industry Conclave on Skills, the Government and the Industry leaders pledged to contribute in order to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of skilled workers
Upgrading skillsets: India Inc, Government join hands

To make the entire skilling ecosystem more effective and productive, for the nation and the industry as well, the Government and the industry leaders have pledged to work together by contributing through their corporate social responsibility (CSR). At the ‘National Industry Conclave on Skills’ on January 12, a first of its kind initiative by the Government, Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Skill Development and Parliamentary Affairs, said, “Youth are the future of our country, they have aspirations and we have to come together to fulfil these aspirations. We need to have one skill development centre each, across all districts by 2017– which means we need to at least have 630 centres. These need to be done by the industry and the Government will handhold you in the best possible way.”

Industry leaders like Sunil Bharti Mittal, Adi Godrej, Cyrus Mistry, Ajit Gulabchand, Prashant Ruia, Dr Naresh Trehan, Sachin Jindal, Nikhil Meswani, GM Rao, Naina Lal Kidwai, S Lakshminarayan who were present at the conclave, assured the government about their contribution.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has committed a minimum 100 skill development centres through its members in the next one year. S Lakshminarayan from Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC) made a commitment of setting up a driving school in any place in India where the government can provide 3-4 acres of land. The organisation has already set large number of institutes for skill development in the sector. The industry also gave a view on the up-gradation of ITIs to meet the demand and supply gap. 

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis who attended the conclave committed to train 2 lakh people with the help of the industry in his state.

India has a huge youth demographic with 65% of its population is below the age of 35, and half the country's population of 1.25 billion people is under 25 years of age. Therefore developing countries like India with largest youth populations could help the economies soar, provided our Industry invest heavily in their skill development. 

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs said, ““90% of the CSR is focused till now towards healthcare and education. There can be serious contribution that can be made to skill development as well through this CSR funding. This is an investment in the country future which will certainly reap results.” He said that the industry needs to align to the National Skill Qualification Framework, to the 3500 unique national occupational standards which have been created and also to the certification process that is in place through National Skill Development Corporation and the Sector Skill Councils. “The industry has to look beyond the areas where they operate and have invested. There needs to be a strong effort towards creating self-employment as well. The government will give the industry the ease to work towards skill development in every possible way. But we have to make this happen at the earliest. I will personally monitor every corporate who has made a commitment today to skill India,” Venkaiah Naidu added. The industry was directed towards different modules in which it can invest into Skill Development. A few of them were - contribution through company’s CAPEX/OPEX or through extending infrastructure support; or by contributing to the National Skill Development Fund where NSDC can give them direction in which areas they can spend their funds.

The conclave was conceptualised to celebrate the 153rd birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand. 

 

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Topics: Skilling, Skilling and Vocational Services, #National

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