Modi Government has approved Rs 12,000-crore outlay for Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to impart skills to 1 crore people over the next four years (2016-20). PMKVY will impart fresh training to 60 lakh youth and certify 40 lakh people who have acquired skills non-formally under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Financial support to trainees will be given in the form of travel allowance and by taking care of boarding and lodging costs. Post-placement support will be given directly to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Disbursement of training cost to partners will be linked to Aadhaar and biometrics for better transparency and targeting. Mobilisation, monitoring and post-training placement of trainees will be done through Rozgar Melas (placement camps) and Kaushal Shivirs (mobilisation camps). Skill training will be done based on industry-led standards aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). Apart from catering to domestic skill needs, PMKVY will focus on skill training aligned with international standards for overseas employment, including in Gulf countries and Europe. There will be scholarships for students undergoing training in high-end job roles under the programme. The target allocation between fresh trainings and RPL will be flexible and interchangeable, depending on functional and operational requirements. The scheme, completely aligned to the common norms as notified earlier, would move to a grant-based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with the common norms.
In view of the recommendations of the sub-group of chief ministers on skill development, state governments will be involved through a project-based approach under PMKVY 2016-20, with 25 per cent of the total training targets, both financial and physical, being allocated under this stream of the scheme. The financial amount/budget for achieving 25 per cent of the total training target of the next phase of PMKVY will be directly allocated to the states. There will be special focus on placement of trainees with incentives or disincentives linked to placement as envisaged in the common norms. A project-based approach for non-formal training for traditional jobs has also been proposed under new guidelines of PMKVY.
Siddharth Singh is a Researcher in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi