Lok Sabha Question No. 1964 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-14
Subject: Digital Skill Programme
Ministry: SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Asked by: Dhal Singh Bisen

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 1964 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2022

## DIGITAL SKILL PROGRAMME

## †1964 DR. DHAL SINGH BISEN:

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

- (a) whether  the  Union  Government  plans  to  introduce  a  digital  skill  program  to  provide employment to the youth of tribals;
- (b) if so, by when such scheme is likely to be introduced;
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether Madhya Pradesh is likely to be covered under the said scheme, if so, the name of districts of Madhya Pradesh likely to be  included in said scheme; and
- (e) whether Balaghat and Seoni districts of Balaghat parliamentary Constituency is likely to be included in such scheme?

## ANSWER

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

- (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 tribal areas.

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

- (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.  e-Skill  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  1500  digital courses have been catalogued on eSkill India. The courses spread across sectors, languages and domains. These self-placed courses can be accessed anytime anywhere by Indian Youth in  rural  and  remote  areas  including  tribal  areas.  Most  of  these  courses  are  free.  The  rich offerings have resulted in exceeding 20 lakh enrolments on eSkill India.

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 Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS), Craft Instructor Training Scheme(CITS) courses in the Industrial Training Institute (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.

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.

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.

Future Skills 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  (CDAC)&National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) Resource Centres have initiated content development for Bridge Courses under Blended Learning mode.

(c) does not arise.

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.

(d)and (e) The  digital  skilling  initiatives  of  MSDE  are  available  for  all  across  the  country including  Balaghat  and  Seoni  districts  of  Balaghat  parliamentary  Constituency  of  Madhya Pradesh and the trainees can access the online portal by 24 X 7.

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