1.04 crore benefitted from Skill India Mission, up 36.8% from last year: Rudy

"The skill training and development ecosystem has seen a transformational change in the last two years," said Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MoS for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He added: "This has been made possible through concerted efforts of various initiatives such as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Vikas Yojna (PMKVY), ITIs with private/ industry partnership, infusion of new ideas and finance through World Bank assistance, crucial amendments in the Apprenticeship Act as well as a paradigm shift in entrepreneurship education and development."

He said in the current arrangement, 60 per cent of the trainings were directly under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, while 40 per cent were across other Central Ministries.

“For the first time in 68 years of India's independence, a ministry has been set up by the Prime Minister to enhance the employability skills,” he added.

Rudy specified extrication between 'job aspirants' and 'job opportunities' in India. "While reviewin,g we found a slit between different sectors. We have enough human resources to fill in, but proper training and education is required," he said.

In the past 11 months, the government has set-up 40 Skill Councils for different sectors. The Ministry has also created a new model to train retiring defence personnel.

“For us the main challenge is to bring in all ITIs under the National Skill Councils,” Rudy said.

He added his Ministry was working towards setting up one model skill centre in each district of the country, which would be operational in over 500 districts by March 2017.

In the last two years, the number of ITIs in the country has increased from 10,750 (May 2014) to over 13,105 (May 2016) and these will be further be scaled up to 18,000 by September. More than 1,141 new ITIs have been added and 1.73 seats have been increased in the last one year.