The hard work of the Uttar Pradesh- Akhilesh Yadav government seems to be paying off and is a call for laurels from left right and center. The state of Uttar Pradesh was awarded the best state in India with respect to its skilling mission at the Summit cum Awards On Skilling India-the way forward’, organized by industry body ASSOCHAM.
As per data on national unemployment rates, UP till now ranked at 11th in terms of unemployment rates. The state has put in place unique steps to ensure maximum coverage of its schemes and maximum participation from the population. The state has set up a comprehensive system that links development in a sustainable manner across sectors and departments of the state government- the UPSSDM. The skilling mission is aimed at creating economies of scale in training and creating a robust system for accreditation simultaneously. The mission is meant to ensure that the youth of the state, who due to multiple reasons cannot or do not wish to pursue formal education after 5th grade have adequate avenues to equip them for the labor market.
The chief minister has been vociferously campaigning for the mission and to garner popular support. Speaking at the event Yuvaon ko, Yuvaon ki kalam se the CM gave away 50 laptops to students from 12 government colleges and handed over appointment letters to 100 women trained under the mission. The CM lauded Secretary to Department of Technical Education, Bhuvnesh Kumar, and director of UP’s Skill Development Mission Surendra Singh as they received the award on behalf of the state. The CM had also stated on earlier occasions that the budgetary allocations for skill development would be augmented by Rs 4,200 crore in the next three years to provide training to 24 lakh youths.
Skill Development MoS Abhishek Mishra rightly pointed out that not even 2%of the countrys population was getting formal training while in several other nations the figure stood at 70%. The gains to be had from a skilled population are limitless.
The mission of the UPSDM is to integrate efforts of various departments of the State and Central Government organizations engaged in providing skill development training and make available employment oriented and placement linked training in vocational skills to 45 lakh youth in the age group of 14 to 35 years by 2016-17, and even at a greater pace thereafter, by partnering with government and private training providers, while ensuring equitable access to the most disadvantaged, including women; and strive for placement of preferably at least 70% of the trained youth in gainful wage and self-employment to enable them to contribute to the economic development of the State.
Since 20th February 2014, there have been 46, 76, 983 registrations on the official portal, 1,935 approved training centers and 297 courses developed for training.