Question : COMPREHENSIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

(a) whether the Government has any specific plan to take advantage of the demographic profile of the country through comprehensive skill development programmes;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government proposes to make India a knowledge superpower by quipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry and if so, the details of the initiatives taken by the Government in this regard; and

(d) the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government for capacity building in the country especially in rural areas?

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) & (b): The Government of India has plans to implement comprehensive skill development prog- rammes keeping in view the demographic profile of the country and a separate Ministry namely “Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepren- eurship” has been set up to meet the objective. In this regard, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has linked Skill Development with quality education through “National Skill Qua- lification Framework (NSQF)”.

(c):Yes Madam. In this regard, the Ministry is implementing several schemes namely Community Colleges scheme, B.Voc Courses, Career Oriented Courses and Kaushal Kendras to offer more voca- tional courses throughout the country and equi- pping the students with the necessary skills. The Ministry has also launched Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and Credit Framework for Skills for vertical and horizontal mobility of the student in skills & general education.

(d):The Ministry has framed all the courses and schemes of Skill development keeping in the view the requirements of urban as well as rural areas for capacity building in the country.