Top 10 organizations, missions and schemes for skill development, livelihoods and gainful employment

Skill development and vocational training programs are conceptualized, executed and monitored by various organizations, working closely with the government of India. There are various plans and schemes that are dedicated to achieve scalable skilling with quality and higher productivity, particularly in the unorganized  or informal sector which accounts for  83% of India’s workforce. Let’s look at the top 10 organizations, missions and schemes that are the striving towards sustained livelihoods and gainful employment through skilling, upskilling and reskilling. These organizations collaborate with industry bodies like CII and FICCI  that take ownership of various Sector Skill Councils.

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Kaushal Yojana – DDU-GKY

The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a placement linked skill development program for the rural youth. Till date there have been 66 special projects that were taken up under the DDU-GKY scheme. 15 states have a minimum of 5 approved projects and many in the pipeline.

DDU-GKY funds a variety of skill training programs all over the country that include over 250 trades such as Retail, Hospitality , Health, Construction, Automotive, Leather, Electrical, Plumbing, Gems and Jewellery, to name a few. DDU-GKY is being adopted throughout India as the scheme is being implemented on a large scale basis, in almost all the states, union territories. Read more…

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission – DAY-NULM

The main aim of DAY – NULM  mission is to curb poverty of the urban poor households by providing them access to their skill related employment opportunities in an organized manner. As a part of this scheme, regional workshops have also been conducted in support of urban homeless, urban street vendors etc. A major objective of the scheme is to help people earn a sustainable livelihood through skilling and upskilling.

Another objective is to increase the income of urban poor by encouraging them to be a part of courses that can provide salaried employment and or self-employment opportunities which will eventually lead to better living standards. Through this scheme the government of India also hopes to eradicate the threats that a regular worker faces in the unorganized sectors of work. The belief that poor also have entrepreneurial capability and have an intent desire to come out of poverty, is what that drives this mission. Read more…

Director General of Training – Modular Employable Skills – DGT-MES

Government of India and the Ministry of Labor together have launched Modular Employable Skills (MES) under Skill Development Initiative (SDI). Under this scheme, school dropouts and existing workers, specially, in the unorganized sector are to be trained for employable skills.    The scheme has been in operation since 2007 and statistics show that a large number of school dropouts do not have access to skill development for improving their employability through various vocational training and apprenticeship programs.

The basic objective of the scheme is to provide vocational training to school dropouts, ITI graduates, rural and unemployed youth to improve their employability. Also, priority is given to those above the age of 14 years who have suffered in the form of child labour to enable them to learn employable skills in order to get gainful employment. Read more…

Ministry of Labor and Employment – MoLE

The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) is one of the oldest and important Ministries of the Government of India. The main responsibility of this Ministry is to protect the interests of workers in general and also the rural and urban poor and that section of people who are deprived and sections of the society. The Government’s attention is also on the promotion of welfare and providing social security to the labor forces both in organized and unorganized sectors. The ministry majorly focuses on women and child welfare and has also started schemes to support various initiatives. The National Career Services is another scheme under the ministry of Labor and Employment which deals with providing job matching services to youth in an easy manner. This project also readily provides information on education, career opportunities, jobs etc. Read more…

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – NREGA

NREGA  guarantees right to work in rural areas by providing wage employment to unskilled manual workers. People are ensured of at least 100 days of employment in every household to a member who is willing to do unskilled work. Employment under NREGA has a legal clauses and the employment schemes are directly implemented by the gram panchayats.

Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA also aims in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.

Ministry Of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship – MSDE

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is responsible for the co-ordination of overall skill development efforts across the country, building the vocational and technical training framework, skill up-gradation, building of new skills, and innovative thinking not only for existing jobs but also jobs that are to be created.

The ministry has aided and supported several other missions that also focus on skill development like the – National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and 33 Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) as well as 187 training partners registered with NSDC. The Ministry also wishes to work with the existing chain of skill development training centers, universities and other institutes in the field. Read more…

National Skill Development Corporation – NSDC

The National Skill Development Corporation, (NSDC) is a unique organization under PPP mode, under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. It aims to promote skill development by initiating the creation of large and quality oriented training institutes all over the country. NSDC acts as a catalyst in skill development by providing funding to enterprises, companies and organizations that provide skill training. The existence of multiple sectors in the country is always a boon for the investors.

The NSDC works with 267 training partners that represent the core ideology of NSDC. Over the past 4 years, NSDC along with its partners have delivered over 2 million skilled people in more than 25 sectors, The government of India works closely with NSDC to help financing training and thus contribute to the overall target of skilling 400 million people in India by 2022. Read more…

National Skill Development Agency – NSDA

NSDA is an autonomous body of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, which aims to coordinate the skill development efforts of the Government and the private sector to achieve the skilling targets by 2022. The NSDA works in partnership with several agencies like the NSDC, Central ministry skill programs, ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, sector skill councils. The NSDA works with 26 different kinds of skill sectors. The NSDA aims to be the major agency for State Skill Development Missions and also ensure that the skilling needs of the disadvantaged and the marginalized groups like SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, women and differently abled persons are taken care of without any bias. Read more…

National Rural Livelihood Mission – Ajeevika skills

Aajeevika- National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is an initiative launched by Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India. The Aajeevika Skill Development Programme (ASDP)  operates under NRLM.  Its aim is to understand the professional aspirations and interests of youth and to also increase their daily income. This mission provides young people from poor communities an opportunity to upgrade their skills and enter the skilled work force of the country. Some key features of the scheme include, post placement support, food and transport during training and assured placement.

NRLM wishes to bring a change by supporting entrepreneurial skills of the poor by creating appropriate platforms through dedicated and sensitive support structures. NRLM has a demand driven strategy and also encourages states to have their own perspective of implementing this scheme. Through this scheme, the private sector is also being encouraged to set up self-employment generation training institutes. Read more…

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana – PMKVY

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is a unique initiative by the Government of India that aims to train about 24 lakh Indian youth to be industry relevant, skill based and to prepare them for the global market. Under this scheme, the trainees will also be given financial support and a certificate on successful completion of training and assessment, which will help them in securing a job for a better future. This scheme mainly focuses on the upbringing of youth and to prepare them to face the challenges of the industrial world.

Keeping in mind the very less emphasis laid on skill development in schools and colleges, the government has decided to set up training centers. Interested candidates need to undergo certain basic steps to take part in the course. Candidates are firstly expected to find a training center, get enrolled, learn the required skill, be a part of an assessment and a certification program and gain a reward at the end. The PMKVY scheme is being implemented successfully with many skill sectors all over the country. Read more…