PMKVY 3.0: Inverting the skill development pyramid

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey
Sharrufuddin  Ahmad  was  working as  a labourer  in a big city in Assam  when the  pandemic struck, forcing him to return to his native village in Assam’s Darang district. Unable to find livelihood, he struggled to make ends meet. That was until he enrolled in a short-term training where he learned the skill of a tyre fitter, a course that was made possible because of mobile training centres introduced by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) under the Skill India mission. Today, Sharrufuddin works in a tyre repairing workshop and is able to look after his family. Sharrufuddin’s story could be anyone’s.Millions lost their livelihood to the sudden attack of the disease. In order to address the woes of so many Indian workers, the government went into overdrive. Skill training programmes were given impetus to reach the maximum and lakhs benefited from the short-term training and recognition of prior learning (RPL) certifications that allowed them to find livelihood even in remote locations. For a country as large as India, skill development is an uphill task. Vast resources have to be invested — human and financial — in developing skills of such big numbers. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, instituted in 2014 with a view to orchestrate synergized efforts in training and entrepreneurship development, has introduced a slew of measures to speed up skilling with standards. Skill training gained importance with the launch of National Skill Development Mission, a new Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Policy in 2015, common norms and standards for schemes and the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana on 15 July 2015, under which more than 1.2 crore youth have been successfully trained through improved standardization of the skilling ecosystem in the country. To be contd