House panel flags poor placements, under-utilisation of funds in PMKVY 3.0

The committee is particularly concerned about the third edition of the scheme, as placement figures fall below 10%

The Parliamentary standing committee on Labour, Textiles and Employment has raised serious concern about the poor placement record and under-utilisation of funds in the government’s flagship scheme for skill development.

The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0), now in its third edition, has been implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Under PMKVY 3.0, out of 399,860 certified candidates only 30,599 (7.7 per cent) were placed as on June 30, 2022. Similarly, in terms of the financial performance, against the total amount of Rs 686.02 crore released, the actual utilisation of funds has been Rs 294.98 crore (43 per cent) only, the committee said in its report submitted to the Lok Sabha speaker in September.    

The Committee said it is deeply concerned to find that despite the revamping of the scheme, core issues like poor placement record and under-utilisation of funds that plagued PMKVY 2.0, persist in PMKVY 3.0.

“The Committee is of the considered opinion that the very purpose of imparting training and certifying the candidates is defeated when placement statistics is abysmally low. Similarly, gross under-utilisation of funds undermines the intent of such an important scheme,” the committee observed.

PMKVY 3.0 was launched last January with an aim to encourage and promote skill development throughout the country by meeting market demands and imparting skills in new-age job roles. It adopted a demand-driven bottom-up approach to skill development, by encouraging candidates to opt for local skills with local jobs, as it saw the increased role of the District Skill Committees (DSCs) for addressing the skill gap and assessing demand at the district level.  

The Skill ministry reasoned that the operations of PMKVY 2.0 (2016-2020) and PMKVY 3.0 were suspended due to the imposition of Covid-19 curbs, which led to a significant dip in the number of enrolments and certifications, resulting in low disbursement and under-utilisation of funds for new batches/candidates during the period.

Raising concerns over the Centrally Sponsored State Managed (CSSM) component of the scheme, the house panel noted that of the 97,288 candidates certified under the CSSM component, only 7,956 (8.2 per cent) reportedly got placed.

“Challenges reported by the states in implementation of the Scheme inter-alia include delay in release of funds from the state treasury to respective SSDMs/departments; non-availability of trainers with right eligibility criteria; limited or non-availability of placement partner's due to less Industrialization in the state; delay in payments to SSC (Sector Skill Council) and TPs (training providers)”, the panel noted.

Poor placement record and under-utilisation of funds has been a persisting issue in the scheme as only 2,132,715 people (23.3 per cent) were reportedly placed out of 9,138,665 people who were certified in its second edition (PMKVY 2.0), the committee noted. Similarly, Rs 7,285.16 crore (60.7 per cent) was utilised out of Rs 12,000 crore allocated in the second edition.  

The Committee also impressed upon the Ministry to endeavour to make the certification process more transparent and effective so that it facilitates more self-employment besides ensuring fair wages to the skilled candidates.