Government to hold National Workshop to give boost to Skill Development
Textiles Minister to inaugurate workshop on Integrated Skill Development Scheme
The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India is organizing a National Workshop on Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) at the national capital, on 27th August, 2015. The workshop aims to showcase the successes under ISDS, share experiences and obtain feedback from concerned stakeholders on how the scheme can better contribute to a skilled India.
The workshop will be inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar. The Textiles Minister will also inaugurate an Exhibition at the venue, namely India Habitat Centre. A brochure and a booklet on ISDS shall also be released by the Minister.
Secretary, Textiles, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panda will launch the facility of online certificate generation through the centralized Management Information System (MIS) portal of ISDS. This innovative facility provides for easy, fast and seamless generation of certificates, promising to be a boon to both trainees as well as training agencies.
Awards shall be given on the occasion, to best performing implementing agencies and employers under the scheme.
After the inaugural session, a presentation shall be given on the journey of ISDS so far. This shall be followed by sessions on the convergence of ISDS with the 'Skill India' initiative; the role of state Governments in catalysing skill initiatives; standardization of courses, assessment and certification, and employment opportunities and challenges under ISDS. The workshop thus aims to identify, disseminate, evolve and institutionalize best practices to improve the effectiveness of the scheme in building the skill capital of India's textile sector.
Backgrounder on ISDS
Integrated Skilled Development Scheme (ISDS) was introduced by Ministry of Textiles as a pilot in the last two years of the 11th Five Year Plan year 2010 -11, in order to address the manpower requirement of the diverse textile and related segments. The scheme has subsequently been scaled up during the 12th plan with a target of skilling 15 lakhs persons by the end of March 2017.
The Government provides a grant subsidy to the extent of 75% of project cost with a ceiling of Rs.10,000/- per trainee. The scheme is being implemented by leveraging existing institutional strength and training experience through three components:
- Institutions / Textile Research Associations under the Ministry of Textiles
- Private industry partners in PPP mode
- State Government Agencies
As of now a total of 11.3 lakh training targets has been sanctioned under 76 projects to around 58 implementing agencies spread across India. The scheme has experienced significant progress over the last 5 years and around 4.20 lakh candidates have been successfully trained across diverse sectors like Apparel and Garments, Textiles, Handlooms, Handicrafts, Sericulture, technical textiles, Jute etc. During the year 2010, around six projects were sanctioned under the scheme which has increased progressively to 57 in the year 2014 and 76 in the year 2015-16.
Midterm modification of scheme guidelines
In terms of the broad skill policy framework of the Government and 'Make in India' initiatives, the scheme has been revamped in FY 2014-15, with a view to simplify procedures and to focus on partnering with industry for scaling up of implementation of training programme with assured employment.
Reach of ISDS
The scheme has a wide reach with training being conducted in almost all Indian States/ UTs. Around 3,250 training centres are present across different Indian states, cities and rural areas including remote locations, backwards regions and left wing extremism affected areas.
Unique Features of ISDS
Various initiatives have been undertaken by the Ministry of Textiles to strengthen the institutional mechanism of the scheme. Steps have been taken to devise strong monitoring norms and to enhance quality of training. In its continuous endeavour towards digitization of skill development initiatives, several technology initiatives have been adopted by the Ministry to keep pace with the dynamic and evolving skilling domain.
- Sector Skill Councils (SSCs): Three Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) have become operational as National level apex bodies under the aegis of National Skill Development Corporation, in the apparel, textiles, handloom & handicrafts sectors.
- A web based centralized Management Information System (MIS) has been operationalized for monitoring of all aspects of the implementation of approved projects by implementing agencies. The MIS system has proved to be a remarkable achievement in overall implementation and monitoring of the scheme.
- MIS is fully integrated with biometric machines and real-time inflow of biometric attendance has been made compulsory. This has helped Ministry to track real-time progress of the scheme with the help of daily biometric attendance.
- Placement with a reasonable salary has been made a major yardstick of the scheme. All implementing agencies are required to place 70% trainees in wage employment with minimum wage prescribed for his /her skill category.
The scheme will not only help overcome the shortage of skilled workforce in textile sector, but also become driver of growth in the industry and trigger innovation and scale, which are important for a competitive and sustainable textile Industry in India.
DJM
