Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government’s endeavour has been to ensure skill opportunities for all in every remote corner of the country while addressing the felicitation programme of the ‘Grameen Udyami Project’ held at Gumla in Jharkhand.

The Grameen Udyami Project was launched to augment skill training in tribal communities for their inclusive and sustainable growth. 

Over 200 tribal women who had completed their skills training under Phase-3 of the project, were awarded their certificates at the programme. 

Grameen Udyami Project

• Government is giving priority to skilling as an important aspect to provide more opportunities to rural youth and to strengthen local village economies. 

• Grameen Udyami is a unique multi-skilling project funded by NSDC that aims to train tribal students. 

• The endeavour is to multiskill India’s youth and impart functional skills to them for enabling livelihoods. 

• Due to lack of skill and education, organised sectors have very poor contribution in tribal livelihood as compared to the national average. Therefore, initiatives like Grameen Udyami Project are critical for their betterment and to ensure their livelihood generation.

• The project is being implemented in six states — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat. 

Following objectives must be achieved under the project:

i) Increase in rural/local economy

ii) Enhance employment opportunities

iii) Reduce forced migration due to lack of local opportunities

iv) Conservation of natural resources.

• Since candidates were mobilised from the rural areas, transportation, boarding & lodging was provided to candidates so that they do not miss out the learning opportunity due to lack of resources. 

• NSDC under the aegis of ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) has supported in setting up of labs and classrooms through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) in Seva Bharti Kendra Skill Development Center.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a Public Private Partnership firm set up by the ministry of finance in 2009 under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (corresponding to Section 8 of The Companies Act, 2013).

• NSDC works closely with the ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship (MSDE). 

• It has an investment management agreement with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF), a trust under MSDE.

• NSDC has an equity base of Rs 10 crore, of which the government of India holds for 49 per cent, while the private sector holds the remaining 51 per cent (10 private sector organizations hold 5.1 per cent each).

• NSDC aims to promote skill development by catalysing creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions. 

• Further, the organisation provides funding to build scalable and profitable vocational training initiatives. 

• Its mandate is also to enable support system which focuses on quality assurance, information systems and train the trainer academies either directly or through partnerships.

• NSDC acts as a catalyst in skill development by providing funding to enterprises, companies and organisations that provide skill training. 

• It also develops appropriate models to enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives.

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