Government allocates Rs.12,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna
The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a Rs.12000 crore outlay for the second phase of PMKVY to train 60 lakh youngsters and certify 40 lakh informally-skilled workers under the Recognition of Prior Learning, over the next four years. The revamped version includes revival of the traditional Guru-Shishya approach with the help of local craftsmen and traders signalling the government's focus on improving efficiency and productivity.
Outlines of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna
The PMKVY is an initiative by the Government of India which aims to enable and mobilize a large number of youth to take up skill-training, making them employable and capable of earning their livelihood. It enlists 5 steps: Finding a training centre, getting enrolled, learning a skill, getting assessed and certified and obtaining a reward. It will boost the productivity of the country's workforce.
First phase of PMKVY
In phase one of PMKVY last year, the government trained some 1.97 million people against a target of 2.4 million. But only 1.27 million of these trainees have been certified and the placement to skilling ratio is estimated to be less than 0.5%.
Government's Recognition of Prior Learning Scheme
The RPL scheme is a sub-component of the PMKVY project that was rolled out in 5 states for 15-months. It aimed to certify skills acquired by workers in the unorganised sectors through traditional, non-formal learning channels. It hit certain roadblocks as some trainees left midway.
Scheme specifics
In accordance with the Common Norms, the government will pay third party agencies directly instead of handing over money to trainees, and a quarterly review of the scheme has been introduced. Financial support will be in the form of boarding and lodging cost and travel allowance, and post-placement support through Direct Benefit Transfer. It will also include training people to work overseas.
Role of the state governments in the PMKVY scheme
In order to address the unique skill requirements of different states, state governments would be involved under the PMKVY 2016-20 through a project based approach and will be allotted 25% of the total training targets. The budget for achieving 25% of the total training targets in the second phase of PMKVY would be directly allocated to the states.
