Skill deficit major hurdle in Indias economic progress: Montek Ahluwalia

To take the debate on skill development towards action, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission India, in his address at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 2nd Employment Summit on Employment Generation and Skills Development, said that government plans to launch a Skill Development Mission. The summit was held at CII on November 22.

He said, Planning commission will be moving the note in early December for proposing the setting up of Skill Development Mission under a framework. He further added, There is no way to achieve the proposed 9% growth without taking credible action on the problem of skill deficit in India.

Dr Ahluwalia said, The government was working on a proposal to develop Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) through the private-public partnership (PPP) model. Introduction of short-term modular courses and issuing scholarship reimbursable vouchers to institutions that focus on skills development are the other important suggestions made by Dr Ahluwalia.

He said that the governments role is changing from that of being a vocational training provider to a facilitator and partner in employment generation and skill development. The 11th Plan has set an ambitious target of creating 70 million jobs between 2007 and 2012.

Urging the CII to take up a project to rank the states on the basis of skill development, he said the stakeholders the centre, the states and the private sector must build a consensus at the national level on the importance of skills development.