NEW DELHI:
With the launch of second edition of the popular ‘Fark Dikh Raha Hai’ media campaign today, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship aims to mobilise youth and empower them with employable skills. Since it’s inception in July 2015, Skill India has trained more than 1 crore youth every year through various programs under Government of India.
The campaign was first launched in August last year and was well received by potential candidates and influencers across the country. It further contributed to the increase in awareness of Skill India from 35% pre-campaign to 56% post campaign. Popular Punjabi singer and industry veteran Daler Mehndi also sang the new anthem for Skill India mission. Titled ‘Hunar Nikharraha Hai, Fark Dikh Raha Hai’, the anthem has been written by notable Indian Lyricist, Screenwriter and Poet, Prasoon Joshi. Focusing on celebrating the success of candidates trained under Skill India mission, the campaign aims to inspire young people to earn a better livelihood through skill training.
The campaign, a series of ad films, was commissioned by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) through leading advertising agency McCann. Since its launch in July 2015, the Skill India Mission under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has touched many people’s lives through its initiatives such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and upgrading and upscaling of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
In an endeavour to make vocational training accessible to the youth, Skill India has opened 500+ multi-skill Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKKs) covering 490+ district across India. The number of ITIs have also been increased from 10,000 earlier to 15,000 in the last five years. To facilitate placement opportunities for trained candidates, Skill India also organized 30+ Rojgar Melas across the country, where more than 1500 employers have shortlisted 60,000+ candidates across different job roles. In the last five years, comprehensive amendments to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 have been made and the number of establishments hiring apprentices has increased from 11,000 to 75,000 today.
Speaking about the campaign’s success, Rajesh Agarwal, Joint Secretary & CVO, MSDE, said, “Skill India’ has been making steady progress towards transforming India as the ‘human resource capital’ of the world and in the past four years since its inception, various skill development initiatives and policy-driven accelerators have helped Indian youth develop job-relevant skills. Through this second edition of Fark Dikh Raha Hai campaign we aim to educate the youth about new age market relevant skills and motivate them to acquire a skill of their choice resulting in significant contribution towards the building of New India.”
Commenting on the campaign, Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC, said, “NSDC has collaborated with MSDE and multiple stakeholders to ensure that India’s youth are empowered with right skills; which could help them earn a better livelihood. The ‘Fark Dikh Raha Hai’ campaign 2.0 aims to showcase the achievement that Skill India has achieved over the years, more than one crore youth join the Skill India Mission every year to transform their lives. We are confident after the launch of our 1 st campaign which received such an overwhelming response and now with Fark Dikh Raha Hai 2.0 we are hoping to raise awareness and aspirational value of vocational training in India even further.”
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman McCann Worldgroup, Asia Pacific and CEO & CCO McCann Worldgroup, India, called the campaign an important marker of the newfound belief in young India. “This campaign clearly communicates the changing attitude towards skill development in India and with the latest addition of the Skill India Anthem we are sure to extend our reach even further and motivate the young India to be a part of this noble mission” he said.
“We are delighted to collaborate with MSDE and NSDC yet again and be a part of this noble mission to motivate the youth of the country and make them believe in their talent. The campaign portrays how by availing the benefits of various schemes under the Skill India program, they can hone their talent for a brighter future.”
MSDE currently manages several initiatives including PMKVY, NAPS, ITIs, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana (PMYY) among other. It is envisaged that similar campaign would be launched in near future covering other schemes under and programs under Skill India.
A brief regarding three flagship programs are as follows: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme under Skill India mission aims to empower large number of youths in India, youths educated or uneducated, with employable skills over a duration of 3 of 6 months across 40+ trades/sectors. Since its launch in July 2016, the program has benefited over 40 lakhs, including 9 lakhs+ certified for their prior experience under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component of PMKVY. This scheme aims to train one crore youth by 2020.
Industrial Training Institutes or ITIs have been supplying skilled manpower to Indian industry since 1950. With prerequisites ranging from 8th to 12th standard pass, these institutes provide diploma in over 130 different streams/trades. Since these institutes brought under the ambit of MSDE in 2014, there has been a 32% increase in the number of ITIs and 54% increase in the number of seats available at these institutes.
Under the Skill India mission, several initiatives have been taken, including the self- grading system, to upgrade the infrastructure and improve the overall quality of ITIs across the country. Currently there is a focus on introducing new age skills such as AR/VR, IoT, Cloud Computing among others at these institutes, which would help our youth in keeping pace with new age technical skills.
NAPS – National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme is a one of its kind initiatives, which incentivize corporate to hire apprentices across different sectors and empowers youth to improve their skills through on-the-job training. Under this scheme, Government contributes 25% of the stipend given to candidates by the corporate and contributes up to Rs. 7500 to the cost of their basic training. Since its launch in August 2016, close to 5 lakh candidates have been benefitted under the program.
