Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the government plans to launch a National Skills Mission through the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry. In his budget speech, he said that the mission would consolidate all skill development initiatives which are spread across several Ministries.
“India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 54 per cent of the total population below 25 years of age. Yet today less than 5 per cent of our potential workforce gets formal skill training to be employable and stay employable,” Mr. Jaitley said.
He said that the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana was launched to enhance the employability of rural youth which is the key to unlocking India’s demographic dividend. A sum of Rs. 1,500 crore was allocated for this scheme in the budget, for which disbursement will be through a digital voucher directly into qualified student’s bank account.
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