Massive Overhaul Of Skills India On The Cards? Government May Let Market Forces Drive Vocational Training

The NDA government is exploring options to overhaul the current implementation scheme of Skill India Mission by shifting it from a subsidy-driven model to one based on incentives to attract private players, reports Economic Times.

While the government had aimed at imparting skills training to four hundred million youth between 2015 and 2022, only twenty-five million youth have received such training till the end of 2018 under various government schemes.

Thus, the government is deliberating options to make skilling programmes more effective.

“One of the options being considered includes giving fiscal incentives to private players whose skilling targets could be linked to their annual turnover,” said a government official to ET.

The plan also proposes to incentive youth to join vocational training courses by providing them with stipends at the school level. This will require the integration of the secondary school curriculum with the skilling ecosystem.

Negative Impact

According to a report published by Accenture, India stands to lose $1.97 trillion in potential GDP growth over the next ten years if the skills of the Indian workforce fail to catch up with emerging technologies.

Also, commenting on the failure of Indian firms in developing the skills of their employees, Nicolas Dumoulin, Managing Director at Michael Page India, told The Hindu Business Line, “India has a shortage of candidates because the Indian economy has grown and so have companies. This has led to people getting pushed in positions, just by the mere fact that the company was growing, whether they have the skill sets or not, that didn't matter.

The companies do not invest in talent development. There is lack of people development in India which is alarming.”

Also Read: Skill India Mission Is Faltering And Needs Urgent Attention