Jaitely seeks to energise youth, earmarks Rs 6,200 cr

A day after the Economic Survey rang alarm bells on India's "soon-to-recede demographic dividend", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today turned towards the youth seeking to 'energise' them through education, skills and jobs, earmarking as much as Rs 6,200 crore under two schemes.
In his 2017-18 Budget speech, the Finance Minister said the government plans to launch Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion programme (SANKALP) at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore along with next phase of Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) costing Rs 2,200 crore.
Stating that quality education will energise India's youth, he said: "In the words of Swami Vivekananda, the education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life.....Is it worth the name?"

His statement comes a day after the Economic Survey 2016-17 pointed out "India's soon-to-recede demographic dividend", stating that the country's "growth boost from the demographic dividend is likely to peak within the next five years, as India's share of working age population plateaus".
The Survey had, however, said, "India may not see the sharp growth decelerations experienced by the East Asian countries because its working age ratio will fall much more gradually than those in other countries".
While other factors still favoured India, the Survey said: "Even so, the urgency of reforms to maximise this soon-to-recede dividend cannot be overstated".

In this backdrop, seeking to maximise on the country's "huge demographic advantage", Jaitely said, "In 2017-18, we also propose to launch the Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion programme (SANKALP) at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore. SANKALP will provide market relevant training to 3.5 crore youth."

He further said the next phase of Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) will also be launched in 2017-18 at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore.
"STRIVE will focus on improving the quality and market relevance of vocational training provided in ITIs and strengthen the apprenticeship programmes through industry cluster approach," Jaitley said.

The government also plans to extend Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK) to more than 600 districts across the country from the current 60, he added.
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Identifying textiles and tourism as key potential employment generators for the youth, Jaitley also announced plans to give impetus to these two industry sectors.
"A special scheme for creating employment in the textile sector has already been launched. A similar scheme will be implemented for the leather and footwear industries," he said.
The finance minister further said: "Tourism is a big employment generator and has a multiplier impact on the economy. Five Special Tourism Zones, anchored on SPVs, will be set up in partnership with the states. Incredible India 2.0 Campaign will be launched across the world."

With an aim to enhance quality of education in the country, he said, the government has proposed to introduce a system of measuring annual learning outcomes in schools with emphasis on science education and flexibility in curriculum to promote creativity through local innovative content.
Moreover, an Innovation Fund for Secondary Education will be created to encourage local innovation for ensuring universal access, gender parity and quality improvement.
"This will include ICT enabled learning transformation. The focus will be on 3,479 educationally backward blocks," Jaitley said.
For higher education, he said the government will undertake reforms in the UGC and good quality institutions would be enabled to have greater administrative and academic autonomy.

"A revised framework will be put in place for outcome based accreditation and credit based programmes," the Finance Minister added.
With an aim to leverage information technology, he said the SWAYAM platform will be launched with at least 350 online courses to enable students to virtually attend courses taught by the best faculty and access high quality reading resources while participating in discussion forums, take tests and earn academic grades.
"Access to SWAYAM would be widened by linkage with DTH channels, dedicated to education," Jaitley added.