The rural development ministry would Thursday announce a reworked skill development scheme, aimed at providing quality skill training and placement opportunities to poor rural youth and to take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" vision.
Official sources said the reworked scheme -- Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna (DDUGKY) -- seeks to re-position rural India in the 15-35 age group as a resource that can support the needs of global manufacturing industry.
They said the ministry had consolidated its previous efforts at skill development and introduced new features such as benchmarking quality to global norms.
"We felt we should also fulfil the global demand for manpower. We have identified countries where there is huge demand," said an official, who did not want to be identified.
He said countries such as the US, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, Britain and China apart from countries in the Middle East have demand for skilled and semi-skilled manpower.
The official said developed countries were predicted "to face a shortfall of 57 million semi-skilled manpower by 2020 and India was expected to have surplus of 47 million".
The ministry has been implementing skills and placement initiatives since 1999 and had started the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) as a placement-linked programme for wage earning and self-employment.
SGSY was redesigned and launched as Aajeevika in September last year.
