KOTTAYAM: Announcing all the support for the skill development initiatives in the state, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Pratap Rudy has said that pilot projects from Kerala under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) would be taken care of with importance. He was speaking after launching the rubber tapper skill development project of the Rubber Board at Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) here on Tuesday.
According to the Minister the political intricacies would not be mixed up with PMKVY projects, one of the ambitious initiative of the Center government towards making skill development an aspirational
one. “Whatever issues could be there in the political front, we will definitely give full support if the state govt comes with pilot projects in any field under PMKVY,” he said.
At the same time, Rudy added that making skills aspirational was the biggest challenge before the Prime Minister, in the prevailing educational system in the country. “Though, we have sound number of
skilled persons in our country, they have never ben identified as skilled. And for that reason, Prime Minister has decided that every person, who has skills, whether it is traditional or home skills, should be recognized, should be brought under prior learning, should be assessed and should be certified so that they can be made aspirational,” he said.
Comparing the percentage of skilled labourer’s presence in the total workforce of various countries and citing the figures from the National Sample Survey, he said India was so low in the list with only three per cent of the total workforce are skilled labourers. “This was the reason why the Prime Minister decided to recognise skilled labourers and add them to the workforce,” he said. Rudy added that the Center govt was planning to create a world class training center for overseas employment, taking into account that migration process was strong across country.
Delivering his presidential address, Agriculture Minister V S Sunilkumar reminded about the importance of enhancing the cooperation between Rubber Board and State’s Agriculture department. He added that a meeting of the Board officials and authorities of the Agriculture department has been scheduled for December 20 in Thiruvananthapuram in this regard. Meanwhile Sunilkumar assured support from the State govt in providing support for intercropping in Rubber Plantations and linking the activities Rubber Producers’ Societies with the Civic bodies concerned.
Board chairman A Ajith Kumar, secretary Viju Chacko, director (training) P Sudha, and National Skill Development Center (NSDC) chief programme officer Vishal Sharma also spoke.