National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has received an enthusiastic response from the private sector. All industry chambers, barring Nasscom, have contributed their share of equity, of Rs 51 lakh each, to the corporation.
The private sector had committed to share 51% of the corporation?s Rs 10-crore authorised capital, with the government putting in the rest.
Industry chambers such as CII, Ficci, Assocham, CLE (Council for Leather Exports), Credai (Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India), GJEPC (Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council), CITI (Confederation of Indian Textile Industry) and Siam (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) have sent in their contributions. For the government?s share, the Plan Budget of the department of economic affairs has approved Rs 4.9 crore well in advance.
NSDC will have a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore under a trust, named National Skill Development Fund (NSDF), to finance various initiatives in the domain. It will also receive assistance from agencies like UK?s department of international development (DIFD) and Asian Development Bank.
NSDC?s top priority, as outlined by the finance minister, is to beef up existing vocational and skills institutes. Under this, 500 00 ITIs are being upgraded into centres of excellence. In a display of urgency, the finance minister has also asked the NSDC board to establish and operationalise skill development institutes in all major regions within the fiscal year.
A top government source said skill development is a top-of-the-mind agenda for the government, since skilled workers from China and Malaysia had to be brought in for key pipeline and technology centre projects in the south. This is certainly unwelcome for a country with a labour force of about 400 million, with about 65% that in the 15-29 age group.
Of the 260 million young workers, the sources said, only 2% have received formal and 8% informal vocational training?making it a cumulative 10% to have received any kind of training. This is dismal, since the corresponding ratio for developed nations is 60% to 96%. Moreover, almost 40% of this group are illiterate and about 25% have received primary level schooling.
Though 13 million individuals join the workforce every year in India, total training capacity in the vocational education & training system is around 3.4 million a year and is restricted to 150 trades. The XIth Plan envisages an expansion to 15 million persons per year, covering 1,000 trades.
NSDC will set up sector skill councils (SSC) in 20 high-growth sectors in consultation with industry. The 20 sectors include automobiles and components; building & construction, chemicals and pharmaceuticals; banking, insurance & financial services; electronics hardware ,food processing and refrigeration.