Industrial Training Institutes in the country that were so far under the Ministry of Labour have been transferred to the Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
An order to this effect was signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, according to Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Mr. Rudy, who inaugurated Apollo Medskills’ centre of excellence here on Friday, said the country had 12,000 it is, which would come under his Ministry’s ambit. The reason for the change was to create a skilled workforce. In India, only two per cent of the workforce was recognised as skilled labour, whereas in Japan, South Korea or Germany, it more than 75 per cent.
Though the government had embarked on a massive training programme, the challenges were huge, the Minister conceded.
“Around 15 per cent engineering students and 17 per cent of MBA students are unemployable, we need 112 million trained people to kickstart the economy,” Mr. Rudy said.
To train the workforce the government needed funds too. “Of every 100 persons to be trained, around 70 would not have the capacity to pay. So, the government has to pay for them. The aim is train 30 crore workers. At the rate of Rs. 20,000 per person for the training, we need around Rs. 4.5 lakh crore in the next five years,” he said.
Mr. Rudy said he was also planning to revive the system of vocational training in schools for students from classes 9 to 12.
His Ministry was in discussion to draft a Bill. He was also planning to set up a Skills University through the Universities Act, he said. To realise the dream of a skilled workforce, he urged states to create an Act on the lines of Chhattisgarh.
Apollo Hospitals founder Pratap C. Reddy said Medskills aimed to train 30,000 candidates in healthcare sector in the current year.
