India Requires More than 70 Lakh Skilled Workforce in Coming Months: Skill Development Minister

Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey said that India would be needing more than 70 lakh skilled manpower in coming months due to unleashing of the economy. He said, more than 62 percent of India’s population is young and it is Prime Minister’s vision to make India as one of the largest skilled economy in the world.

Shri Pandey was speaking here at the 18th Annual Convocation Ceremony of VLCC Institute of Beauty and Nutrition. The Minister said that apart from the regular 6,000 employees, VLCC has given employment to more than 2 lakh youths in the last couple of years. The Minister underlined that Beauty and Wellness business in India has a market potential of Rs 80,000 crore and can provide employment opportunities to lakhs of people, as everyone craves for a healthy and beautiful life in modern era. He also pointed out that this skilling course is an important tool of women empowerment as the students after training can set up wellness and beauty centres by availing easy loans like Mudra and can also motivate others for such gainful employment opportunities.

Dr Pandey said that the National Skill Development Mission (Skill India Mission), launched on July 15, 2015 under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has been steadily making progress.  Nearly One Crore youth are being presently imparted skills training annually under various programs of the Government through Skill India Mission. He said, India is a young nation and a skilled workforce will be able to cater to not only the market demand within the country but also the global market.

Dr Pandey said that Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing a flagship scheme known as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 2.0) 2016-20 on pan-India basis with an objective to provide skilling to one crore people under Short Term Training (STT), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Special Project (SP) across the country including the State of Madhya Pradesh over four years (2016-2020) with an outlay of Rs.12,000 crore. As on 12.06.2019, 52.12 lakh (appx.) (31.08 lakh STT + 21.04 lakh RPL) candidates have been trained under the scheme in the country,

The Ministry has also taken initiative to set up Model Skill Centres called Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs) in districts across the country. As on date, 837 PMKKs have been allocated across the country covering 717 districts and 543 Parliamentary Constituencies. Out of allocated PMKKs, 610 PMKKs have already been set up.