Question : Skill Development of Widows

(a) whether the National Skill Development Corporation has provided training to youth in its institutes under the first phase of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana;

(b) if so, whether the Government is aware that these institutes lacked proper infrastructure and have not enough space to train even a fraction of the claimed number of candidates and if so, the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard;

(c) whether the Government proposes to handover the task of imparting training to private or non-governmental organizations under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana;

(d) if so, the companies and NGOs selected for the purpose and criteria adopted for their selection; and

(e) whether Government also proposes to extend the benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana to widows/destitute women and if so, the details thereof?

(a) to (d) National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is the implementing agency for Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) for providing skills training to the prospective youth of the country. However, NSDC did not directly run training institutions under PMKVY.

Under the 1st phase of the scheme (2015-16), trainings are conducted by multiple Training Providers and Centers including private or non-governmental organizations. The accredited and affiliated Training Providers (TPs) use there infrastructure to impart skill training (Short term Training and Recognition of Prior Learning) to the prospective candidates across the country. During the 1st phase, accreditation and affiliation were done by respective Sector Skill Councils (SSCs). However, under PMKVY 2016-20, all the TPs have to mandatorily go through SMART for their accreditation and affiliation for allocation of targets. The target allocation is based on the grading assigned to the TC by the Centre Accreditation and Affiliation Committee. The grading is linked to quality of training, infrastructure availability, training capacity, self-owned center or franchisee center, past performance, geographical location and other relevant parameters.

(e) Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is for all sections of the society including the women. Further, there are certain incentives under PMKVY to encourage women participation in the skill training. All women trainees under PMKVY is provided with travelling allowance of Rs. 1000/1500 per trainee per month depending upon whether TC is within district of Domicile of candidate or outside. Similarly, post placement support of Rs. 1450 per month per trainee is applicable for special group including woman for 2 or 3 month post training depending on placement within or outside the district of the domicile of the candidate.