The Rajasthan government signed an MoU worth 200 crore with Bharatiya Skill Development Campus (BSDC) to set up the first skill development university under PPP mode. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also inaugurated India’s largest Skill Development campus based on the Swill Dual Model at Mahindra SEZ.
Education, vocational training and learning are central pillars of employability, employment of workers and sustainable enterprise development – major contributors towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty. Skills development is a known key in stimulating a sustainable development process and can make an immense impact in facilitating the transition from the informal to the formal economy. Skill development is also essential to address the opportunities and challenges to meet new demands of changing economies and new technologies in the context of globalization. The principles and values of decent work provide guidance for the design and delivery of skills development and are an effective way of efficiently managing socially just transitions.
The Indian learning has not been proved too efficient to make youths of our country employable according to the industrial and employability needs. Despite the ever-growing number of institutions at all levels – be it school or colleges, large number of youths in our country are not capable of being employed and getting better job opportunities. The main reason being the lack of specified skills essential for requirement of the job market. India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 62% of population in the working age group (15-59 years) and more than 54% of the total population below 25 years of age. To reap the demographic dividend, which is, expected to last next 25 years, India needs to equip its workforce more productive.
It was with this thought in mind that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje started working on the skill development sector as soon as she came to power. Her thinking was way ahead of time as Rajasthan was the first State in India to establish the Mission on Livelihoods, in September 2004, under the Raje’s chairmanship in order to address the challenges of unemployment and ensuring gainful and sustainable employment. The objective of creation of Rajasthan mission on Livelihoods was to formulate appropriate and innovative strategies to promote and facilitate large-scale livelihoods for the needy.
Almost twelve years down the line, CM Vasundhara Raje has been able to bring significant developments in terms of skill development in the State, to achieve her target of skilling 15 lakh youths in the 5 years of her tenure. Rajasthan Skill and Livelihood Development Corporation has facilitated training of more than 1.2 lac youth and these efforts have allowed the state government provide employment opportunities to over 6 lac youth. Today RSLDC has 260 active Skill Development Centres in which 18,000 youth are under doing short-term skill training program in covering 34 economic sectors. The results are evident from the fact that Rajasthan was awarded the prestigious Gold Trophy for the Best State in Skill Development for the second year in a row, at the ‘Skilling India Summit Cum Awards’ organised by ASSOCHAM, supported by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India for its efforts in facilitating the creation of a skilled workforce that meets the present and future requirements of employers across industries through a wide array of initiatives. It is vital to note here that key budgetary outlays were made towards this respect – 58 crore for establishment of Centers of Excellence in 29 ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) in the next three years, and Rs. 354 crore for training 86,000 youth under Livelihood in Full Employment (LIFE) Scheme under the Rajasthan State Budget 2016, to point a few. Rajasthan, for skilling alone, has put in Rs 400 crore which no other government in the country has done. Raje’s personal interest and endeavor in the sector has attracted many private sector companies like Toyota, Cairn, Samsung, Pidilite, Bosch, Caterpillar and Narayana Hrudalaya to come and partner with the Rajasthan Government. During her visit to Singapore, CM Vasundhara Raje succeeded in partnering Governement of Rajasthan with ITES Singapore for developing ITI Udaipur as a Centre of Excellence in hospitality.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje recently inaugurated the Bharatiya Skill Development Campus (BSDC) – a State of the art World Class skill development facility developed at Mahindra World City, Jaipur. Skill training system at BSDC is based on Swiss Dual system of vocational training in Switzerland. In Swiss dual system onsite apprenticeship training at private enterprises is formally combined with vocational training schools and formal education system. The training model shall offer 18 months vocational training with 6 months basic training at campus, 6 months apprenticeship, on job training with industry followed by 6 months advance training at campus. The BSDC has already invested around 100 Crore Rupees for development of BSDC campus at SEZ, Jaipur. BSDC has further offered an investment of Rs 200 Crore for supporting the development of Skill University in the state.
Inaugurated the Bharatiya Skill Dev. Campus–world class skill development facility developed at Mahindra World City pic.twitter.com/1I35FnS21Q
— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) April 23, 2016
CM Raje recently underlined the importance of skill development of the youth to make them global citizens and increase their employability, “Visiting tourists to Rajasthan shall see state’s economic development and skill of our youth in the near future besides the splendid forts, palaces and the cultural heritage. Youths from Rajasthan can go anywhere in the world and prove their brilliance and prove most competent after they participate in the skill development programmes being offered by the state.
As India moves progressively towards becoming a global knowledge economy, it must meet the rising aspirations of its youth. This can be partially achieved through focus on advancement of skills that are relevant to the emerging economic environment. The challenge pertains not only to a huge quantitative expansion of the facilities for skill training, but also to the much more important task of raising their quality. In this context, such extensive efforts by the Raje Government shall prove to be highly beneficial for the youth of the state in the coming times.
