NEW DELHI: The government is planning to launch third phase of its flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in the next financial year, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey has said.
The government launched the PMKVY scheme in 2015 and revamped it in 2016 to impart skills to one crore persons by 2020.
The revamped scheme, called PMKVY 2.0, moved to a grant-based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with common norms.
According to official data, over 69 lakh candidates have been trained across the country under the PMKVY till November 11.
On asked whether the ongoing scheme will see an extension as 30 per cent of the target is yet to be met, the minister told PTI: "We will be crossing 90 per cent of the target under the ongoing scheme...and as you know, training and skilling the youth are key objectives of the government. We will (also) be coming up with PMKVY-III."
The target under PMKVY-III, which he said will be launched after March 2020, will be bigger and cover larger aspects.
However, Pandey did not share any figures for the new phase saying it will be shared when it is officially announced.
The minister also urged public sector and private sector players to lay emphasis on apprenticeship programme.
"I assure all help from my ministry. They (companies) must go ahead and give, organise and promote apprenticeship," he said.
Pandey also said that he and Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship R K Singh will meet chairman and managing directors of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) across various sectors before the end of this month and ask them to increase the number of apprentices.
Recently, Singh said there are only 4 lakh apprentices in India, out of which 2 lakh are in central public sector enterprises.
The number is significantly lower as compared to countries such as Japan where the number is 1 crore and China (2 crore).
CPSEs have also been asked to triple the number of apprentice to six lakhs.
Published On : 8-12-2019
Source : Economic Times
