Lok Sabha Question No. 204 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-13
Subject: Digital Skill Programme
Ministry: SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Asked by: Jaskaur Meena

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. * 204 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2021

## DIGITAL SKILL PROGRAMME

## †* 204. SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA:

Will  the  Minister  of  SKILL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  ENTREPRENEURSHIP be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the Government  is  formulating a plan to start a Digital Skill Programme to enhance the employment capability of youth of rural and semi-urban areas throughout the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the estimated funds and the target fixed under the programme;
- (c) whether it is proposed to include the rural areas of Rajasthan also under this programme;
- (d) if so, the details thereof, district-wise; and
- (e) the time by which it is likely to be started?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (e) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) to (E) of LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *204 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2021 ASKED BY SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA REGARDING 'DIGITAL SKILL PROGRAMME'

- (a) Yes Sir. The Government already has such programmes and is also aware of the fact that digital Skills are crucial especially in the post Covid era to ensure skilling for the youth and also to address the requirements of Industrial Revolution 4.0. The Schemes are implemented across the country including rural and semi-urban areas.
- (b) The National Skill Development Corporation, under MSDE, has created e-Skill India, a multi-lingual portal, providing e-skilling opportunities to the Indian youth. eSkill  India  works collaboratively  as  an e-Learning aggregator portal by establishing strategic  digital  skilling  partnerships  with  knowledge  partners  to  bring  best-in-class digital  opportunities  for  the  India  youth  under  one  roof.  These  partnerships  have been instrumental in setting up a rich catalogue of digital-skill opportunities for the skill-seekers. Right from trade skills courses to Soft Skills, Life Skills, and Employability enhancers have been provided. Over 1400 digital courses have been catalogued  on  eSkill  India.  The  courses  spread  across  sectors,  languages  and domains.  Most  of  these  courses  are  free.  The  rich  offerings  have  resulted  in exceeding 1.8 mn enrolments on eSkill India.

The  Directorate  General  of  Training  (DGT  -  https://dgt.gov.in)  under  the  aegis  of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been striving ahead in  this  technological  age  by  hand  holding  the  youth  across  the  country  and  at  the same time ensuring their digital skilling and industry readiness.

DGT, under the digital skilling programme has launched the Bharat Skills ( https://bharatskills.gov.in) , a Digital Repository for skills provides NSQF curriculum, course material, e-learning videos, question banks and mock test etc. for CTS,  CITS  courses  in  the  ITI  eco-system.  This  helps  the  trainers  and  trainees  to have easy access to books, practice papers, learning videos which enable them to learn easily their topics outside the class.

Also, National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI - https://nimi.gov.in) has developed a  Bharatskills  Mobile  App,  where  students  can  access  the  content  and  they  can assess  their  skills  through  live  mock  test  /  question  bank  and  simultaneous evaluation.

DGT  in  association  with  NIMI,  has  also  developed  the  Blended  Learning  -  digital vocational education and training courses to augment learning of ITI students across the  country.  As  a  phase-1,  the  courses  for  top  6  popular  ITI  trades  under  CTS scheme  (i.e.  Electrician,  Fitter,  COPA,  Mechanic  Diesel,  Cosmetology,  Welder  which covers 18 lakh out of 23.5 lakh trainees in the ITI ecosystem) has been made available.  These  courses  are  already  hosted  on  www.bharatskills.gov.in.  Blended Learning will act as a key tool for trainees to acquire new skills, upgrade skills as well as  to  test  their  learning's,  can  be  accessed  anytime  from  anywhere  from  internet enabled devices.

Links  to  various  other  digital  skilling  programs  like  Employability  skills,  new  age courses  relevant  to  Industrial  Revolution  4.0  (upskilling)  etc.  have  been  made available to the trainees @ free by DGT in partnership with Tech Industries like IBM, Cisco, Quest, Microsoft etc through Bharatskills portal to make the trainees industry ready.  At present, Bharatskills contents are being accessed by more than 34 lakh

trainees. FutureSkills  PRIME  is  a  platform for  Re-skilling/Up-skilling  of  IT  Manpower  for Employability and is a collaborative initiative between MeitYand IT-ITeS SSC (Sector Skills Council) NASSCOM.  The  Programme  would  follow  an 'aggregator of aggregators'  approach for  digital  skills  training  on  a  national  scale,  with  the  entire platform  being  hosted  online  and  seeks  to  create  synergy  and  collaborations between industry, academia and the government. The digital learning platform seeks to build 'digital fluency' and provide certification in industry validated and government approved  courses.  Under  the  Programme,  4.12  lakh  learners  will  get  subsidised access  to  certified  courses  in  any  of  the  10  identified  emerging  technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of  things,  Big  Data  Analytics,  Robotic  Process Automation, Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social & Mobile, Cyber  Security,  Augmented/Virtual  Reality  and  Blockchain). As  on  30 th November 2021, over 18.1+ lakh learners have visited the website, over 4.79 lakhs have signed up,  over  2.75  lakh  course  enrolments have  been  done. Centre  for  Development  of  Advanced  Computing  (C-DAC)&National  Institute  of Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (NIELIT)  Resource  Centres  have  initiated content development for Bridge Courses under Blended Learning mode.

The  Ministry  of  Education  launched  an  initiative  'YUKTI  2.0'  in  June  2020  to  help systematically assimilate technologies having commercial potential and information related to incubated start-up in the higher education institutions.

(c), (d)  and (e) The digital skilling initiatives of MSDE are available for all across the country and the trainees can access the online portal by 24 X 7.

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