Union minister of state for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in Thiruvananthapuram that the national skill development policy which aims to address issues of skill development will be put in place by March-April this year.
Rudy was addressing a function to launch ‘Sandesh One’, which is a network of women social entrepreneurs, which will offer technology at the grassroots level. He added that this policy has been circulated to all states.
He said the initiative started by Kerala should have been done 50 years ago and that employment and lack of skilled workforce are the two biggest challenges faced by India.
According to Rudy, India had just two per cent skilled workforce as against 70 per cent UK, 74 per cent in Germany, 80 per cent in Japan, and 96 per cent in South Korea.
He added, “By 2020, the textile sector will need 1.4 crore skilled workers, infrastructure sector 10.3 crore, construction sector 3.3 crore and health sector 1.2 skilled workers.
He was of the opinion that Kerala was heading for a model of skill development that could be replicated in other states of the country and the Centre would offer strong support to states for this initiative. (AR)
