Government to improve skill development programme as it looks to create more jobs

Dharmendra Pradhan, the new skill development minister, said the ministry will coordinate with state governments and different agencies to increase employment opportunities for youngsters.

The government will expedite its initiative to skill youth in different trades and develop entrepreneur skills as it looks to create employment avenues for one million youth who join the job market every year.

Minister of skill development and entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan and MoS Anant Kumar Hegde (left) with KP Krishnan, secretary, MSDE, in New Delhi on Monday. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

Dharmendra Pradhan, who took over as the minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, said his priority would be to create an eco-system of jobs.

“Every year one million youth come in the job market. Our effort will be to coordinate with the state governments and other agencies to find employment avenues for them,” he said in New Delhi.

After coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi created the new ministry for coordination of all skill development efforts across the country, removal of disconnect between demand and supply of skilled manpower, building the vocational and technical training framework and skill improvement, he said.

He said his job would be to skill youth on a large scale with speed.

“We will increase the pace and take forward the work already done (under Rajiv Pratap Rudy),” he said.

Pradhan, who was elevated as cabinet minister for petroleum and natural gas in the reshuffle carried out by Modi on Sunday, said realtime data would be used to map sectors for employment opportunities.

Skill Development Ministry is an additional charge that he has been given.