Skill Development Programmes Need Structured Intervention to Create More Jobs, Uplift Unorganised Workforce
Given the informal nature of workforce, access to skill development, livelihood opportunities, financial linkages, education are safety net, which can be offered through convergence efforts of departments... District Skill Committee is a potential platform to strengthen skill ecosystem.
India has the demographic advantage of the youngest workforce, it can be the Human Resource Capital of the world by appropriately skilling its youth and convert this advantage into a dividend. With only 2.3 % of the workforce in India having undergone formal skill training, India faces a severe shortage of well-trained, skilled workers. Therefore, a pressing need is felt for scaling up skill training efforts to make the youth employable and meet the demand of employers thereby driving economic growth.
The enormity of India’s skilling challenge is further aggravated by the fact that the skilling efforts cut across multiple sectors and require the involvement of diverse stakeholders such as government departments at the Centre and state levels, training providers, employers, industry associations, assessment, certification bodies and trainees. The fact that the skill development programmes are spread across more than 20 central ministries and departments and several state governments indicate towards a need to align the efforts of all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of Skill India.
Owing to multiplicity of stakeholders and sectors in skilling ecosystem, it becomes imperative that decentralised mechanisms are adopted for targeted approach and coordinated efforts. Keeping this in mind, District Skilling Committees (DSCs) headed by district collectors were established by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) in 2018. The DSCs are entrusted with district-level skill demand assessment, support in mobilisation, counselling, training, placement of candidates and grievance redressal, if any. However, there is a need to strengthen the district machinery for effective skill training implementation.
Decentralised framework through DSCs can support balanced development with convergence of resources while addressing the inter-sectoral priorities. This is facilitated by bringing relevant stakeholders together, identifying sectors with high demand for skill labour, need-based targets skilling schemes and allocation of funds through various departments for livelihood promotion activities.
District Skill Development Plans (DSDPs) can serve to provide a framework for convergence of programmes, financial resources, departments/disciplines and synergistic efforts of bodies or institutions associated with the projects of skill development and allied sectors.
A decentralised approach for skill training has been recently adopted by MoSDE under PMKVY 3.0 by giving active role to District Skill Committees (DSC) in skill training in order to improve quality of training through effective decentralised monitoring and reduced information asymmetry regarding the demand-supply dynamics of the district.
Evolution of DSC and their Role in Skill Training
Launched in 717 district across all states and UTs, DSC are composed of district-level government officials of various departments – skills, education, MSME, banking, urban and rural development and so on. Members from industry and civil society organisations can also be co-opted under DSC. The skilling ecosystem now functions through three-tiered structure of the ministry at the top, State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs) in the middle, followed by DSCs at the bottom. DSCs are tasked with, inter alia, developing annual district skill development plans, map demand and supply, support in implementation of central schemes – PMKVY, DDUGKY, DAY- NULM, coordination with relevant organisation such as Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), non-government organisations, industry for livelihood promotion activities, monitoring and evaluation of skilling activities.
Through these functions, DSCs can aid in optimal utilisation of disitrict resources through people-centric approach. Further, a structured skilling approach through DSCs aligns district level plans with state and national targets. However, with so many ministries and departments at the helm of skill training, well-coordinated efforts and comprehensive policy response is required for strengthening the capacity and charting an action plan for DSCs that can ensure smooth implementation and monitoring.
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