The Central Government initiated and launched the project titled 'Sankalp' to speed-up skill development by evaluating the parameters that didn't worked in the previous skills development program.
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In the last few decades, the skill development program in India took a boost. Initially, under their scheme only technical education was emphasiser, however now the emphasis is towards inclusive education. As a direct result, employment is created in varied industrial segments of the economic structure .
In 2009-2014, the government distributed the responsibility and administration of skills development activities to various ministries. However, the new government appointed in May 2014 changed this premise and created a new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) by upgrading the ranks of the Training and Apprentice Department of the Ministry of Labor. It was through this ministry that skill development efforts were launched more vigorously and consistently.
At present there are various institutes working under the umbrella of MSDE on this solid groundwork for skill development. MSDE is also carrying the vision to create 8.1 million jobs every year. To keep the rate of job availability stable by coordinating with various factors to achieve the target. Recently, the Central Government announced the Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (Sankalp) project. Under this scheme, the Central Government has announced some important provisions, through which the Central Government has prioritised on planning to accelerate skill development by evaluating the components that miserably failed in the previous skill development chain and replacing them with updated ones. However, new addition to the the cycle of skill development, isn't about the particular task or project centric. Rather in the long run, it would be more appropriate to strengthen institutions working in the field of skills development than to expand the distributed administrative network.
MSDE is a one entity in the maze of government institutions. And in this maze everyone has their own independent ecosystem and way of working. Apart from MSDE, there are other ministries which run their own skill development activities independently. The example of the Ministry of Housing and Civil Affairs (MOHUA) should suffice. The Ministry runs the National Urban Livelihood Program (NULM). Therefore, some features of the resolution are repeated here or appear to be lacking in some places, making it an administrative impossibility to carry out skill development activities so effectively.
Sankalp Scheme is implemented through Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The World Bank's share is Rs 3,300 crore, while the share of state governments and industries is Rs 660 crore and Rs 4,455 crore respectively. The Sankalp scheme falls under the ambit of MSDE and is has to be implemented by the State Skill Development Mission in the respective states. However, it has become clear that the objectives of the Sankalp Project and the National Skills Development Institute (NSDA) , which comes under MSDE, are the same. Please check the below mentioned table for additional information.
| Objective of the Resolution | Objective of NSDA
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| Strengthening the institutional system at the national and state levels |
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| Integration of all skill development programs at the state level. |
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| To strive to provide skill development training opportunities to the deprived sections of the society. Also, women trainees should be given this opportunity to complete their training. |
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As shown in the table above, the objectives of Sankalp Project and NSDA are very similar. The two components of the Sankalp scheme, however, are different which can further strengthen the existing effectiveness of the NSDA. The Sankalp scheme recommends the establishment of a Unified National Accreditation Board under the NSDA, which will standardise the registration and accreditation criteria of trainers and training centres and create quality grades and pathways for institutions and centres, it is critical to have such a system. This is because making accreditation mandatory on competitive quality courses will curb corruption by putting pressure on Vocational Training Partners (VTPs) who are swindling funds without implementing any course properly. Strict sanctions on accreditation can be imposed through a resolution and administration.
The Sankalp scheme also anticipated a welcome suggestion to set up a National Skills Research Division under NSDA. As the research centre is a separate entity comprising intellectuals, it will be able to review and analyse what is currently scenarios of the labor market, evaluate the results of skills development programs, and inform all skill development organisations about the findings of their research, the will motivate to plan policy in the right direction. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) conducted a district-wise in-depth study of the skills deficit, however it does not include Bihar, a exclusive report in relation to this was published in 2013.
Although the report's elaboration and its significance on the manpower required for the concerned industry in the near future are taken into account, it does reveal some limitations that need to be addressed immediately. For this, a new policy needs to be dictated by taking concrete action on the Skill Deficit Analysis (SGA) conducted by each state from time to time. The SGA should not only provide statistics on how many manpower will be required in various employment oriented sectors in the urban areas in the near future, but also on how many skill development beneficiaries have been recruited in these various sectors so far. MOHUA 's NULM has set aside separate funds for administrative bodies in state governments to obtain information from local SGAs .
An underlying objective of the Sankalp scheme is to strengthen NSDA's Labor Market Information System (LMIS) at grassroots level. At present, LMIS is a one-stop national database containing data on skills development submitted by four Union Ministries. Under the Sankalp, while restructuring the LMIS , care will be taken to ensure that the skill development data received from 20 Ministries and all the States is consolidated on a single platform.
The Sankalp Project is a national mission and will be implemented through various levels. The entire responsibility of this mission lies with MSDE and the responsibilities have been shared in parallel with NSDA, NSDC, National Skill Development Fund and State Skill Development Missions. However, one factor needs special attention, as there is opposition at all levels to the creation of a separate administrative structure for the implementation of the common objectives of existing institutions. For example, on August 20, 2019, The notification issued titled 'Work Distribution' showcases the administration of NSDA and Sankalp in different ministries, while NSDC and Sankalp are listed under International Cooperation and Technology. At the same time, the NSDA is listed under the Economic Policy and National Council for Vocational Education and Training.
It would be important to witness, how the World Bank funds will be utilised to concrete the existing framework and curriculum of the skills development program. Because they are opposed to setting up independent institutions for it. It has been found that there is a discrepancy in the funds provided to various schemes implemented to create employment opportunities for the urban poor, thus creating confusion and underscoring the mismatch between administration and funding. If these administrative errors are already addressed, it would be promising to bring positive change on the established groundwork for skill development of the country through creative proposals under the Sankalp scheme.
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