Lok Sabha Question No. 1198 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-25
Subject: National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme
Ministry: SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Asked by: Bidyut Baran Mahato, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Ram Kripal Yadav, Ravindra Kushawaha, Prataprao  Jadhav, Sambhajirao Mane Dhairyasheel, Shrirang Appa Barne, Subrata Pathak, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Sudheer Gupta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

## LOK SABHA

UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 1198 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2022

## NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP PROMOTION SCHEME

† 1198   SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

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

- a. the aims and objectives of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS);
- b. the total number of apprentices benefited from the NAPS since its inception to till date in getting right jobs;
- c. whether the Government proposes has taken an initiative to transfer the stipend payable to  students  under  NAPS  directly  to  their  bank  account  as  a  part  of  Direct  Benefit  Transfer Scheme through National Scheme Development Corporation and if so, the details thereof;
- d. whether  the  Government  proposes  to  make  India  'Skill  Capital  of  the  World'  by introducing  various  apprenticeship  reforms  and  building  a  skilled  manpower  and  if  so,  the details thereof and steps taken in this direction;
- e. the details of other measures taken by the Government to impart skill training to students through various apprenticeship schemes in the country; and
- f. the manner in which students are likely to be benefited from the said proposal/initiative?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

- (a)  The National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), launched in August 2016, aims to promote  apprenticeship  training in the country by providing stipend support to the apprentices, undertake capacity building of the apprenticeship ecosystem  and  provide advocacy assistance to support rapid growth. Further, the objectives of the NAPS are as under:
- (i) To  develop  skilled  manpower  for  the  industry  by  promotion  of  on-the-job  experiential training.
- (ii) To encourage establishments to enrol apprentices by sharing partial stipend support to the apprentices.
- (iii) To provide up-skilling opportunities for candidates who have undergone short-term skill training.
- (iv) To  encourage  enrolment  of  apprentices  in  small  establishments  (MSMEs),  and  those located in under served areas like in aspirational districts and in North-East region.
- (b) The total number of apprentices engaged since inception of NAPS  is  around 13.38 lakh.
- (c) Yes, Sir. Instead of reimbursement of stipends (25% or Rs. 1,500  whichever is less) to the establishment, it is proposed to transfer the amount to the bank account of apprentices by the Government  under  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  Scheme  (DBT).    A  pilot  DBT  in  this  regard  was conducted in June, 2022, which will be scaled up to the full scale.
- (d) to (e) Apprenticeship training is one of the key components for creating sklled manpower in India  and  contributes  to  make  India  'Skill  capital  of  the  world'.  Various  reforms,  including amendments in 2014 to the Apprentices Act, 1961  and the Rules in 2019 and launch of NAPS, have been carried out to facilitate the establishments to engage more number of apprentices. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has taken many steps, in consultation with  various  stakeholders,  to  simplify  the  portal  and  the  processes  and  to  revise  the  NAPS guidelines to bring increase in the number of establishments and apprentices.  All these have led to increase in the number of apprentices from 2.90 lakh in 2020-21 to 5.8 lakh in 2021-22 and expenditure from Rs. 120 crore to Rs 217 crore during the same period. During the current year, the number of apprentices is expected to reach 10 lakh. Towards this, the government is organizing 250 apprenticeship awareness  workshops  and  monthly  apprenticeship  mela throughout the country to create awareness about the apprenticeship among the students and the establishments and to create opportunities for apprenticeship for youth.
- (f) Currently, two apprenticeship schemes are in implementation, namely, National Apprenticeship Training  Scheme (NATS) by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education  (MoE)  and  National  Apprenticeship  Promotion  Scheme  (NAPS)  by  MSDE.  While NATS  implements  apprenticeship  training  for  engineering  graduates,  diploma  holders  and general steam graduates; NAPS is for the rest of the categories of apprentices. Efforts have been  taken  to  bring  convergence  between  the  two  schemes.  Further,  UGC  has  framed guidelines  for  Higher  Education  Institutions  to  offer  apprenticeship/  internship-embedded degree/diploma programmes to focus on development of knowledge, skills, aptitude and on-thejob  training  with  industry  exposure  to  enhance  job  orientation  and  employability  of  the graduates/undergraduates  students.  All  the  above  schemes  and  programme  focus  towards specific  target  group  of  candidates  with  intent  to  bridge  the  skill  gap  by  imparting  on-the-job training and make them Industry-ready and employable.

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