New Delhi: Reiterating his vision on creating jobs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his maiden Independence Day speech said India must focus on growing the manufacturing sector and on developing skills to provide meaningful employment to millions of young Indians.
“Today, if we want to give more and more employment opportunities to the youth, then we will have to promote the manufacturing sector,” Modi said on Friday.
Over two months after the announcement, the government has given final shape to the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship that will be a part of the ministry of sports and youth affairs.
Carved out after discussions with nearly two dozen ministries that are already involved in vocational training, the ministry of skill development has taken over key roles from the finance ministry as well as the labour ministry.
Less than 10 per cent of the Indian workforce has had formal skill training, while in countries like South Korea, it is closer to 98 per cent. We have had two consecutive years of rising unemployment. Nearly 95 per cent of our workforce is in the unorganised sector, which is a way of saying the people working in this sector have had no formal training in any skill. Agriculture and construction constitute a large part of this sector.
Among PM Modi’s pet plans, few would be more significant to India than building 100 smart cities, as the country is in the middle of a massive wave of urbanisation. Modi was smitten with the idea of a smart city long ago, and he had set the ball rolling in Gujarat with the Greenfield Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT). This venture is now proceeding rapidly, as it has been allotted 11 million sq ft for construction. As he moved to the Centre, Modi started work on implementing the idea all across India. It is among his few plans that are moving smoothly ahead.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Friday announced new secretaries for five ministries/departments. This is for the first time since Modi took charge as prime minister that so many ministries have undergone bureaucratic changes at the top. The most significant shuffle seems to be that of Ashok Lavasa, who has been named secretary, environment ministry.
NEW DELHI, AUG 29:
Senior IAS officers V Somasundaran and Rakesh Singh were today appointed as new secretaries in ministries of Civil Aviation and Steel respectively.
Somasundaran, who is serving in Kerala, will take over the charge from Ashok Lavasa, who has been appointed Secretary in Ministry of Environment and Forests. Somasundaran is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.
NEW DELHI: In a first sign of interministerial squabble, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to carve out a separate department for skill development and entrepreneurship is facing stiff resistance from ministries who will see a major chunk of their funds disappear if the plan is approved.
Skill development is a massive government programme with annual allocation of about ` 5,000 crore. The funds and the work are spread over 11 ministries including HRD, labour and rural development that often end up working at cross purposes.
In the 2014-15 state budget, UP chief minister has wiped out most of the freebies and has focused on basic necessities including infrastructure, energy and job creation.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday presented the state budget for thefiscal year 2014-15, which focuses more on development sectors. This also includes free skill development training to six lakh youth of Uttar Pradesh in the year.
A month after it was announced, the contours of the new ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship are still on the drafting board and a formal decision is expected only later this year.
“There is still a lot of discussion on what issues will be retained by the nodal ministries and what would be handed over to the new ministry. A decision is likely only after the Budget Session of Parliament ends,” Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister for labour and employment told The Indian Express.
As part of the allocation of portfolios on May 27, the NDA governmenthad announced a new ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship headed by Sarbananda Sonowal.
But with skill development and vocational training spread across more than a dozen Central ministries including labour, human resourcedevelopment and finance, carving out a new ministry has proven to be difficult task.
According to highly-placed sources, the National Skill Development Authority and the National Skill Development Corporation are likely to be subsumed within the new ministry that is expected to play more of a coordinating role between different agencies.
Similarly, the directorate general of employment and training, an attached office to the ministry of labour that is responsible for industrial training institutes and skilling may also be given to the new ministry of skill development.
The issue is yet to be taken up by the Union Cabinet either. “It was slated for discussion but has not been taken up. Once the proposal is finalised, the Cabinet will approve it and the ministry will then be officially notified,” said an official privy to the development.
With a lack of clarity, Sonowal, who is also minister of state (independent charge) for sports and youth affairs, continues to work full time out of his office in Shastri Bhawan
Skilling and entrepreneurship is a key agenda for the NDA government with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a “Skill India” initiative as a majority of the population is less than 35 years of age.
Job creation, skill development and opportunities for entrepreneurship was one of the key promises in the election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Earlier, the UPA government had set a target of imparting vocational training and skills to 500 million youth by 2022.
Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/centre-yet-to-…
The government will look beyond the 500 million target for skill development and the Union Budget next week is likely to give a roadmap for the government’s skilling programme.
“There will of course be some indication in the Budget on the skill development agenda,” said Sarbananda Sonowal, minister for state (independent charge) skill development and entrepreneurship.