At the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Union Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, urged CII members to join the Government in scaling skill development efforts in the country.
This comes a few days after the National Industry Partnership Conclave organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry at Mumbai, where six union ministers attended along with Chief Minister of Maharashtra met captains of Indian industry and representatives of public sector to discuss collaboration on skills.
At the CII National Council, Minister Rudy reiterated the young Ministry’s commitment to revamping the skill development landscape and the colossal work needed to achieve scale and speed. Ministry Rudy candidly said “I am open to new ideas, models and express my full commitment to partnering with industry on employability”. Minister Rudy acknowledged the fact that the work which should have started 3 decades back is beginning now. However there was a need for a beginning, he said.
Highlighting the challenges before the skilling sector, Rudy added that “Currently India has only 3.5 per cent skilled manpower against 95 per cent in Korea, 78 per cent in Japan and 78 per cent in Germany. Thefigure could be slightly higher if traditional skills are mapped. However, in the present situation both Government and industry have to come together to increase the level of vocational training in the country.”
Captains of industry raised pertinent questions relating to the implementation of the skill development space. To which Minister Rudy said “The Ministry is here to understand and solve the problems; from mobilization to implementation.” The Minister also expressed the urgent need to make vocationalisation of education a reality and assured that the Ministry is working towards involving all the related Ministries to implement vocational training in schools.
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII showcased one of the Multiskill Hubs at Madhya Pradesh. Praising the model, Minister Rudy requested industry to come forward and join the skilling initiative whether within or outside their premises.
On the Apprenticeship Amendment Act (2014), Mr Rajesh Agrawal, Joint Secretary, detailed the new industry friendly act and reiterated that the Ministry is open to suggestions to improve it further. There is a plan to bring equivalence to the National Apprentice Certificate.
Minister Rudy applauded CII’s commitment to partner the Ministry in setting up 100 Skill Development Centres .