Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed students live at the second ‘Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh’ – Annual Skill Convocation Ceremony – on 12th October 2023 organised by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, and Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, graced the event. Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Shri K Sanjay Murthy; Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Shri Sanjay Kumar; Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari; Chairman, National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), Shri Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi; Chairman, AICTE, Prof. T. G. Sitharam; Chairman, UGC, Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar; other officials, dignitaries and students were also present on the occasion .

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister remarked that this festival of skill development is unique in itself and today’s event of joint convocation of skill development institutions across the country is a very commendable initiative. He said that Kaushal Dikshant Samaroh reflects the priorities of today's India. Acknowledging the presence of thousands of youth connected with this event through technology, the Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes to all the youth.

Prime Minister Shri Modi highlighted the importance of the power of  youth in utilizing the strengths of any country such as its natural or mineral resources, or its long coastlines and said that the country develops more with stronger youth power thereby doing justice to the nation’s resources. Today, the Prime Minister emphasized that a similar thinking is empowering India’s youth which is making unprecedented improvements in the entire ecosystem. “In this, the country's approach is two-pronged”, the Prime Minister said. He explained that India is preparing its youth to take advantage of new opportunities through skilling and education .He highlighted the new National Education Policy, which has been established after almost 4 decades. The Prime Minister also underlined that the Government is establishing a large number of new medical colleges, and skill development institutes like IITs, IIMs or ITIs, and mentioned the crores of youth who have been trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. On the other hand, the Prime Minister stated that traditional sectors which provide jobs are also being strengthened while new sectors that promote employment and entrepreneurship are also being promoted. The Prime Minister also mentioned India making new records in goods exports, mobile exports, electronic exports, services exports, defence exports and manufacturing, and at the same time creating a large number of new opportunities for youth in many sectors such as space, startups, drones, animation, electric vehicles, semiconductors, etc.

“Today, the whole world is of the belief that this century is going to be India's century”, the Prime Minister said as he credited the young population of India for this. Shri Modi underlined that when the elderly population is increasing in many countries of the world, India is getting younger with each passing day. “India has this huge advantage”, he stressed as he noted the world looking towards India for its skilled youth. He informed that India's proposal regarding global skill mapping has been recently accepted at the G20 Summit, which will help in creating better opportunities for youth in the coming times. The Prime Minister suggested not wasting any opportunity being created and assured that the Government is ready to support the cause. Shri Modi pointed out the neglect towards skill development in the previous governments and said, “Our government understood the importance of skill and created a separate Ministry for it and allocated a separate budget.” He underlined that India is investing more in the skills of its youth than ever before and gave the example of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana which has strengthened the youth at the ground level. Under this scheme, the Prime Minister informed that about 1.5 crore youth have been trained so far. He further added that new skill centers are also being established near industrial clusters, which will enable the industry to share its requirements with skill development institutes, thereby developing the necessary skill sets among the youth for better employment opportunities.

Highlighting the importance of skilling, upskilling and re-skilling, the Prime Minister noted the rapidly changing demands and nature of jobs and emphasized upgrading the skills accordingly. Therefore, the Prime Minister said, it is very important for industry, research and skill development institutions to be in tune with the present times. Noting the improved focus on skills, the Prime Minister informed that about 5 thousand new ITIs have been set up in the country in the last 9 years adding more than 4 lakh new ITI seats. He also mentioned that institutes are being upgraded as model ITIs with the objective of providing efficient and high-quality training along with best practices.

“The scope of skill development is continuously increasing in India. We are not limited to just mechanics, engineers, technology, or any other service”, the Prime Minister said as he mentioned that women’s self-help groups are being prepared for drone technology. Stressing the importance of Vishwakarmas in our everyday life, Shri Modi mentioned PM Vishwakarma Yojana which enables the Vishwakarmas to link their traditional skills with modern technology and tools.

The Prime Minister noted that new possibilities are being created for the youth as India's economy is expanding. He said that employment creation in India has reached a new height and the unemployment rate in India is at its lowest level in 6 years according to a recent survey. Noting that unemployment is decreasing rapidly in both rural and urban areas of India, the Prime Minister emphasized that the benefits of development are reaching both villages and cities equally, and as a result, new opportunities are increasing equally in both villages and cities. He also pointed out the unprecedented increase in the participation of women in India's workforce and credited the impact of the schemes and campaigns that have been launched in India in the past years regarding women empowerment.

Highlighting the recent figures released by the International Monetary Fund, the Prime Minister informed that India will remain the fastest-growing major economy in the coming years. He also recalled his resolve to take India among the top three economies of the world and said that IMF is also confident of India becoming the top three economies of the world in the next 3-4 years. He underlined that it would create new opportunities for employment and self-employment in the country.

Concluding the address, the Prime Minister stressed making India the biggest centre of skilled manpower in the world in order to provide smart and skilled manpower solutions. “The process of learning, teaching and moving forward should continue. May you be successful at every step in life”, the Prime Minister concluded.

While addressing the convocation Shri Dharmendra Pradhan mentioned that on 17th September 2023 PM Vishwakarma Yojana was launched which is going to benefit 30 lakh traditional craftsmen with capacity building and skill upgradation. He also added that today, 10.60 lakh students across the country received their certificates which will be a useful addition to the country’s skilled human resource. He expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Modi for giving wings to the dreams of Yuva Shakti, particularly the Divyang brothers and sisters, through Skill India.

Shri Pradhan also mentioned that NEP 2020 has formalized skill training by introducing it to the education system from Class VI onwards. NEP emphasises on integration of schooling and skilling, he highlighted. The teaching-learning material for classes III, IV, V, VI, IX and XI will also be available by the next academic year, he added.

He also mentioned how emerging and applied areas such as semiconductor will be integrated into the school curriculum and efforts are being made to create new opportunities and meet the skilling needs of the diverse and talented Yuva Shakti. He highlighted that, as announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 15th August 2023, 15000 women will be receiving drones for use in precision and pointed agriculture.

With the transformative power of skilling, India is going to be the leader in the supply chain of global skilled human resource requirements, Shri Pradhan mentioned. He also mentioned that nearly 4 crore youth have already registered to the Skill India Digital Portal launched recently. More courses will be launched aiming at skilling the youth of the country by NCVT, UGC, AICTE, Delhi University, and others, he added.

Shri Pradhan also highlighted that the inclusion of women in the skill ecosystem has increased significantly due to the introduction of developmental schemes such as Ujjwala, housing schemes, health benefits etc. He pointed that India’s unemployment rate has declined from 6% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2022-23. During the same period 1.5 core citizens have been added to the skilling ecosystem, he also mentioned.

Shri Chandrasekhar, in his address, congratulated the recipients of the certificates and marked it be one of the most inspiring and energizing days. He expressed his gratitude for crafting and creating a future for the youth of the country. He also mentioned how the Prime Minister’s vision to create a Viksit Bharat for every youth of the country regardless of their economic condition or location will be possible by skilling them. He also mentioned that in 2014, out of the 40 crore workforce of the country, almost 30 crore lacked formal training, which has changed drastically by the launching of Skill India by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Shri Chandrasekhar also mentioned that acquiring these skills will be the ‘Passport to prosperity’ for our youth. Among all the programs by the Government of India, skilling holds the potential to enable our vast population of Young Indians to create a stronger and better future for themselves, unlike any other time in the history of independent India, he added.

An Audio-Video film on the achievements of the Skill India programme was also shown at the programme. One-hundred NIMI (National Instructional Media Institute) Bhasha books were launched as well. These books have been translated into 12 regional languages, including Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Hindi, Assamese, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, and Urdu. A handbook on Entrepreneurship Development was also launched at the event.

All India toppers and high achievers across various skill initiatives of MSDE were felicitated at the function. Toppers of ITIs/NSTI, PMKVY & Special Projects, NIESBUD & IIE, and Jan Shikshan Sansthan, and Apprentices of Skill India International received their certificates. Toppers and Awardees, including one specially-abled awardee, shared their experience, which was quite inspiring.

Aligned with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of empowering women, several female candidates received a special recognition during the event for breaking into job roles which were traditionally opted by men.

Under the Long-term skilling ecosystem of the Directorate General of Training (DGT) exams for the Academic session 2022-23 (1-year trades) and 2021-23 (2-year trades) under the Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) were held in ITIs during July 2023 and the result was declared in August 2023. About 16 Lakh students appeared for the final examination out of which about 14 Lakh passed. The pass percentage is 88.07%.

Similarly, for the Crafts Instructor Training Scheme (CITS) being implemented in the NSTIs and IToTs across the country, 8621 appeared for the final examination and 7933 passed. The pass percentage for the same was 92.02%.

The vision of the Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh is to harness the blend of school-based and work-based learning to nurture talent and enable students to showcase their skills to the world. These students have gained skill training across different job roles such as assistant computer operator, UI/UX developer, data scientist, social media strategist, beauty care assistant, mine surveyor, domestic care, etc.

Last year, under the guidance of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) organized a grand convocation ceremony for the first time. Similarly, by organizing the convocation ceremony this year, the aim is to further instil a feeling of pride and respect among all students belonging to the skill ecosystem for becoming a part of the nation-building initiative. The event will showcase the hard work and dedication of the students and will inspire a sense of bonding among them.

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SS/AK

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