International Journal of Academic Research and Development
International Journal of Academic Research and Development
ISSN: 2455-4197
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Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 486-489
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Vojana: Challenges and opportunities
Mayank Raj
DDU Kaushal Kendra, Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, Chitrakoot, Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India
Abstract
Indian population crossed 121 Crore numbers and world’s second largest populated country. Structural changes in the Indian
economy have precipitated changes in the patterns of demand for industrial labour. Recent trends in the composition of
employment indicate that the Indian workforce is migrating from the agriculture sector to the industry-and-services sectors. India
is uniquely positioned in world due to demographic dividend as compared to developed countries whose population is aging.
India’s 65% of the population is below 35 years of age and 70% of the population will be of working age by 2025. High population
if employed, trained and productive can easily capitalize the advantage of demographic dividend and lead to sustainable
development but same high unemployed, untrained and unproductive population can even turn demographic dividend into
demographic liability.
India has one of the youngest populations in the world, a trend that is expected to continue until 2040. However, India's labour
productivity is much lower than that of other Asian economies. A structural shift towards higher-productivity sectors requires up-
skilling of the labour force in order to ensure the country’s inclusive economic growth. Skill development has emerged as a
national priority and a number of skill-training initiatives have been undertaken over the last few years. The present study is based
on secondary data with regard of impact of KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA. An attempt has been made to know what are the
hurdles which Indian workforce/ students face to achieve skill development at all fronts.
Keywords: skill development, behavioral change, skill gap, employability, labour force, skill training
Introduction 1,500 Crore, the PMKVY is likely to impart skills training to
Indian government is soon going to launch Pradhan Mantri 24 lakh youth of the country, focusing on the class X/XII
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). With an objective of dropouts and lower income groups.
making India the skill capital of the world. Approval to this Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the
scheme was given in March 2015 and will be implemented by flagship outcome-based skill training scheme of the new
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. This Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
would be done by providing training to the country’s youth on
various job specific skills which would be utilized under Objectives of PMKVY
schemes such as Make in India, Clean India Mission, Digital The objective of this Scheme is to encourage skill
India and others involving various industries such as development for youth by providing monetary rewards for
construction, manufacturing etc. Even as he launched the successful completion of approved training programs.
make in India camping inviting investors from all over the Specifically, the Scheme aims to:
global to invest and set up business in India, prime minister 1. Encourage standardization in the certification process and
promised an abundance of skilled labour in the country. initiate a process of creating a registry of skills
Complementary to this was the idea of skill development 2. Enable and mobilize a large number of Indian youth to
among the youth of nation. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal take up skill training and become employable and earn
Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was thus envisaged as a key measure their livelihood. Increase productivity of the existing
to impart skill-based training to young men and women, workforce and align the training and certification to the
making them capable of earning and supporting the nation’s needs of the country.
anti-poverty endeavors. The scheme becomes all the more 3. Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification to boost
important in the Indian society which has the world’s largest employability and productivity of youth by incentivizing
youth population that requires employable skill (356 million them for skill trainings
populations between 10 and 24 years of age- the Hindu, Nov 4. Reward candidates undergoing skill training by authorized
2014). On 20 March 2015, the government of India gave the institutions at an average monetary reward of Rs. 8,000
ministry of skill development and Entrepreneurship a formal (Rupees Eight Thousand) per candidate.
go-ahead to formulate and implement the Pradhan Mantri 5. Benefit 24 lakh youth at an approximate total cost of Rs.
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) through the National Skill 1,500 Crores.
Development Corporation. With a total outlay of bout INR
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Features & Benefits of PMKVY training are not well qualified. Also, we do not have quality
1. Objective is to train 24 lakh youths institutions in India for technical education. Then lack of
2. To create registry of skills interest and interaction from industry is another big challenge
3. Increasing the productivity of the skilled individuals which for the growth of technical education in India. Also, less
would be used for nation’s development emphasis is given on skill up-gradation during employment in
4. On an average trainee will get Rs. 8000 as a reward. This India. To overcome these hurdles, old curriculum must be
would be given by third party assessment body. However update with a new and advanced one. Also, new institutes
in order to receive the reward, trainee will have to appear must be set in to provide advance information regarding this
for assessment test and based on the test results, reward filed. Classes should be more interesting and interactive with
would be given. full industry participation. Students must be made aware of
5. Training would be provided based on the National Skill their growth path in the selected stream.
Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led
standards and it would be need based training. National Skill Development Corporation
6. Most of the skills do not require any educational The National Skill Development Corporation India (NSDC)
qualification or experience. was setup as a one of its kind, Public Private Partnership
7. Feedback would be collected by all the trainees who Company with the primary mandate of catalyzing the skills
undergo assessment. This will help in calculating the landscape in India. The program is ambitious plans to skill
effectiveness of Kaushal Vikas Scheme. 500 million youth by 2020.The NSDC has taken the right
approach of understanding the prevailing challenges and then
Scope of Vocational or Technical Education in India preparing a roadmap that is aligned with industry needs and
Technology is touching every aspect of life and society. So, trainee expectations. Hopefully, the youth will be able to
there is a dire need of backing up conventional study and match up to the opportunity and contribute in realizing India’s
teaching with technical education, as it will not only help in potential as a developed nation.
the development of the country, but also the person possessing NSDC is a unique model created with a well thought through
those skills. A technically sound person is never short of jobs. underlying philosophy based on the following pillars:
Thus, technical education as per the needs of the present 1. Create: Proactively catalyze creation of large, quality
market will assist in uplifting society. vocational training institutions.
Technical education is a part of education that is directly 2. Fund: Reduce risk by providing patient capital. Including
related to the gaining of information and skill needed in grants and equity.
manufacturing and service industries. In India, overall 3. Enable: the creation and sustainability of support systems
education can be divided into social, spiritual and vocational. required for skill development. This includes the Industry
Concerns related to society are covered under social led Sector Skill Councils.
education, personality development is the part of spiritual
education and vocational education consists of technical Challenges
education that further deals with branches like agriculture, It is a much-improved scheme compared to the Standard
medicine, engineering and Commerce. Technical education is Training Assessment and Reward (STAR) launched in August
a skill-based education that primarily keeps the jobs prospects 2013. When STAR was launched, things were done in haste;
in mind. It provides training to the individual in a specific National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Qualification
field. Packs (QPs) were created within a short span of time; Sector
For acquiring technical education, there are two structural Skills Councils (SSCs) were in various stages of evolution and
streams in India-formal and informal. Polytechnics, industrial so was the assessment system.
Training Institution (ITIS), Industrial Training Centre’s Now, since all the ground work is in place and fully
(ITCS), centrally sponsored scheme of Vocationalizaion of functional, the PMKVY is expected to produce more
Secondary Education by the Ministry of Human Resource transparent and verifiable outcomes. If this has to happen, the
Development are few of the formal sources of technical key will be the ability to mobilise the right students; students
education in India. Whereas self-learning and small private who want to make a career in the field they pursued during
institutes providing short-terms technical course are covered their undergraduate studies. There are certain challenges
informal ones. In the past few decades, India has been a associated with this scheme too and they need to be addressed
mushrooming of many small to medium technology-based if PMKVY has to succeed:
enterprises because of the easy availability of labour. Though 1. Trained in one role, placed in another: In the past,
students are opting these formal technical institutes for people got assessed and certified in one particular job role
training but interest of students in these institutes is quite less and ended up being placed in a completely different job.
in India. Also the rate of enrollment in these vocational 2. Trained in one role, but do not land a job: Training is
institutes is very low, as there is a high drop rate at secondary not aligned to the demand, which means we train a lot of
level in India. Vocational training is given in class 11 and 12, people in certain job roles but there is no demand for these
but students who reach at this level focus on higher education trained people.
rather than technical training. Moreover, employers look for 3. Training location vs job location: A lot of people get
candidates with strong academic record rather than just having trained and placed, but leave within a short period because
a vocational training. Training institutes too lack trained staff the cost of living in the location they are posted is too
and teachers. Most of the teachers who impart basic technical high. This occurs because training is conducted on the
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basis of the availability of students. The jobs are in some Online teaching creates extended classroom communities for
other location, but students cannot afford to migrate. discussion, virtual classrooms and for interaction. There is
4. Lower payouts for training: The PMKVY training fee is another option in which classroom courses can be recorded in
rationalised and differentiated better this time with higher a real time and used for teaching the students who cannot
fees for technical job roles. In addition, the training fee has attend these classes. This creates an expanded access to
been reduced compared to STAR and therefore, to conduct education. Rural education needs e-learning technologies.
effective training, there has to be a part contribution from Apart from his audio conferencing and video conferencing
the student or the employer. This, I think is a good should be made part of the education system in rural India.
development. Quality of the training programme will Teachers at the schools are not well equipped with the
improve as soon as part of the fee is collected from either gadgets. So teachers should be given printers, laptops, for
the employer or the student giving notes to the students. By using technology the problem
5. Student pay outs: The PMKVY requires student to pay of unqualified teachers can also be solved.
the entire fees - including assessment fees - and get it
reimbursed based on assessment success. This is going to Government Initiatives
be a tough concept to sell to the students without a job in The central Government has established the National
sight. If the training provider takes the risk by providing Vocational Qualification Framework for motivating skill
credit he may not recover the cost. Hence, training partners development. The basis of the National Vocational
with job linkages may have an advantage. Qualification Framework, are the nationally recognized
6. Focus on school dropouts: One of the ground realities in occupational standards. For the proper functioning of the
India is that more than 10 million graduates are either frame work, the National Skill Development Policy 2009 has
willingly unemployed or are desperately seeking a job that proposed many features such as certification of learning;
meets their impossible expectations. On the other hand, national qualification levels, quality assurance, and lifelong,
most of the school drop outs are working as unskilled open and flexible system, framework of affiliations and
labour and are hence employed. accreditation, multiple certification agencies, etc. new
The PMKVY will focus more on school dropouts, which I industrial and labour trends in India have clearly specified the
feel requires a review. The graduates need training and job need of vocational and technical education. But the base of
counselling and are currently very frustrated. The technical education must be made strong at secondary level of
weightage must be equal between graduates and school education and a clear-cut path for the students to move ahead
dropouts. in this filed must be made. More vocational and technical
7. Mobilization support from government: If the end result degrees of high quality along with vocational universities
of training is gainful employment, then we must must be established.
acknowledge that "any one cannot do any job". Each job
requires some unique personality attributes and attitude Conclusion
and hence, pre-assessment is required before training. This Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a unique initiative by
is a common practice in private sector. But PMKVY has the Government of India that aims to offer 24 lakh Indian
not prescribed any pre-assessment guidelines. In addition, youth meaningful, industry relevant, and skill based training.
the government mobilization focuses more on youth Under this scheme, the trainees will be offered a financial
aspirations rather than basic fitment. This could lead to a reward and a government certification on successful
lot of training being given to the wrong candidates. completion of training and assessment, which will help them
in securing a job for a better future. The Pradhan Mantri
Use of Technology in Rural Education of India Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was thus envisaged as a key
Mobile Phones, Internet, Tablets, i-pads, their applications, measure to impart skill-based training to young men and
social media even traveling, cooking, communication etc. are women, making them capable of earning and supporting the
part of our lives from the start till the end of the day. nation’s anti-poverty endeavors.
Technology is touching every aspect of society and chaining it With help of NSCD i.e. government of India and initiative of
dramatically. But there is one very important and Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his programme for the
indispensable part of the society that has also been tapped by Skill development and entrepreneurship opportunity
new innovations and discoveries and that is education. development. Which meet the expectation and exceeded it, but
Like all other areas, in this case also urban areas are in near future it will generate more skilled labour force with
influenced to a greater extent than rural one. So much more very good work skill. It helps to create income and increase
could have been done to bring the revaluation in learning more employment opportunity.
process in rural areas of India. In India illiteracy is one of the
biggest problems. Lack of easy access, lack of teachers, lack References
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