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The Centre will soon launch a revamped version of its Skill India initiative with an aim to train young people in the country with “future ready skills,” Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) will also set up the country’s first centre of excellence in online gaming at Shillong by March 2023, he added.
Last year, the government had invited ideas for the Skill India 2.0 in a bid to urgently create a “reliable and qualified workforce” and help it to “tap into new opportunities”. Under the new scheme, the government is focusing on strengthening the digital skill ecosystem as technical skills like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), machine learning, and the ability to work with data, including automated systems, have “become a must-have”.
Under the revamped Skill India scheme, the government is aiming to train around 50,000 young people in Meghalaya. As far as other states in the North-East region are concerned, the Skill Development Ministry has set a target to skill around 60,000 youth in Tripura and 35,000 in Nagaland across a spectrum of approved courses, Chandrasekhar said.
“PM Narendra Modi is building New India with reimagined ambitions and aspirations for the young Indians. There are multiple opportunities available today and therefore skills become important to take advantage of these opportunities. Skills are the new passport to prosperity,” Chandrasekhar, who was on a two-day official visit to Meghalaya, said.
The centre of excellence in online gaming will be set up by the Digital India Startup Hub through the Software Technology Parks of India, Chandrasekhar said. MeitY will also establish a facility in Shillong to provide training on cutting edge digital skills, he said. “It is the vision of PM Narendra Modi that the next wave of startups and entrepreneurs must come from Shillong, Kohima and other parts of North-East India,” Chandrasekhar said.
The Minister also highlighted the importance of digital skills after the pandemic, as the rate of digitisation of products, services and devices continues to increase across the globe.
