Centre pledges Rs 560 crore to states for skill development

MSDE minister Mahendra Nath Pandey made this announcement at a meeting with states, which also saw collaboration with 22 organizations to provide apprenticeship training opportunities to more than 2.5 lakh youth in the country.

The Centre on Monday pledged Rs 560 crore to states in a bid to promote demand-driven and industry linked skill development, an official of the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship said.

A worker carries a sack at a wholesale market in Delhi. The official said there will be extensive focus on promoting Apprenticeship training(Photo: Bloomberg)

MSDE minister Mahendra Nath Pandey made this announcement at a meeting with states, which also saw collaboration with 22 organisations, to provide apprenticeship training opportunities to more than 2.5 lakh youth in the country.

“It is important that we map and strike a balance between the traditional and new age skills, right at the district level and also target a shift from unorganised to the organised market through our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program,” Pandey said.

The event also saw detailed discussion to draw the outline for the Vision 2025 of Skill India. “It is imperative that the Central and the State Governments work closely with each other to ensure that we meet our Vision 2025”, he said.

The official said there will be extensive focus on promoting Apprenticeship training and the ministry has launched a pilot programme to give incentives to TPAs (Third Party Aggregators) to further expand program.