PM Modi launches ambitious Skill India Mission

After the successful launches of 'Make in India' and 'Digital India,' the Narendra Modi-led NDA government's latest brainchild, National Skill Development Mission was inaugrated by the Prime Minister on Wednesday under the leadership of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy in New Delhi.

The ambitious project seeks to provide the institutional capacity to train a minimum of 300 million skilled people by the year 2022.

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (earlier Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, first created in July 2014) was set up in November 2014 to drive the 'Skill India' agenda in a 'Mission Mode' in order to converge existing skill training initiatives and combine scale and quality of skilling efforts, with speed.

The programme also looks to offer a passage for overseas employment through specific programmes mapped to global job requirements and benchmarked to international standards.

In a fresh approach the programme will help maintain a national database, known as the Labour Market Information System (LMIS), which will act as a portal for matching the demand and supply of skilled workforce in the country. The LMIS, will on the one hand provide citizens with vital information on skilling initiatives across the country. On the other, it will also serve as a platform for monitoring the performance of existing skill development programmes, running in every Indian state.

There will be a National Skill Development Mission at the Centre to steer, drive and execute the Mission's objectives. Key institutional mechanisms for achieving the
objectives of the Mission have been divided into three tiers.

The Mission will consist of a Governing Council at apex level, a Steering Committee and a Mission Directorate (along with an Executive Committee) as the executive arm of the Mission.

The Mission Governing Council at Apex level will be headed by Hon'ble Prime Minister and the constitution of the Governing Council will be as follows:

-Union Ministers from MoF, MSDE, MHRD, MoRD, MoLE, MSME, MoA, M/o Overseas Affairs, M/o Information Technology, M/o HUPA Deputy Chairman, NITI Aayog
-Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
-Cabinet Secretary Secretary, SDE (as Member Secretary)
- 3 members from industry/academia as determined by Governing Council
- 3 State Chief Ministers as determined by Governing Council, on rotation basis

In terms of financing the implementation of skilling activities under the mission will be as per the budget provisions of various schemes under their respective heads of account. The administrative expenses of the programme will be borne from the budget of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The IFD of the Ministry will function as the finance wing of the mission. The administrative support to the mission will be provided by the Ministry.