New Delhi: The Honourable Finance Minister Shri P Chidambaram today unveiled the National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme that will be implemented on pan-India basis.

This is a first of its kind scheme to be launched in the country. The scheme was first proposed by the Finance Minister in the last Union Budget to allocate Rs 1,000 crore for a scheme that will motivate the youth of this country to acquire a vocational skill.  The scheme is expected to benefit a million people in the first year of its implementation.

The scheme that is branded as STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) for promotional purposes envisages that a monetary reward that will in essence financially help those who wish to acquire  a new skill or upgrade their skills to a higher level.

Launching the Scheme in the capital today, the Finance Minister said, “This is one of the most ambitious schemes in the country.  We have four pillars supporting this.  The sector skill councils, the training partners, the assessing agencies and the young men and women without whom there is no scheme.”  He called on all four pillars to come together and work towards achieving the National Skilling Mission.”

The National Skilling Mission envisages adding 500 million skilled Indians by the year 2022.  While 150 million of this is expected to be contributed by the private sector working under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the rest 350 million will be contributed by 18-odd ministries at the Centre.

The Finance Minister assured the gathering that money will not be a constraint for achieving the National Skilling Target.  “If we can skill 10 lakh people in one year, it will be money (Rs 1,000 crore) well spent.  And if we can skill 15 lakh people in a year Rs 1,500 crore will be well spent,” the Finance Minister said.

Offering his ministries complete support, Union Minister for Rural Development Shri Jairam Ramesh said the focus is not on numbers and targets but on the quality of training and sustaining employment.

Participating at the launch of the new scheme, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia urged the industry to invest in skill development and said that when the economic growth comes the industry must not feel the shortage of skilled manpower.  He further said, “Training is going to be strictly job oriented with the active involvement of skill development councils.”   He further said that the scheme that has been launched today can achieve full scale before the end of the 12th Five Year Plant.

The scheme will be implemented by NSDC.  While the scheme envisages covering a million skilled people under this scheme, sufficient processes have also been pre-defined to ensure that the quality of the skill imparted is world-class.  The monetary reward is strictly depended on obtaining a certificate that will be issued by qualified assessors after necessary tests have been passed.  The skills are also benchmarked to National Occupational Standards that have been developed by NSDC with the support of the Sector Skill Councils.

Commenting on the new scheme, Shri S Ramadorai, chairman of National Skill Development Corporation and National Skill Development Agency, said, “Very simply put the scheme visualises the Sector Skills Councils – SSCs-  set up as visualised under the National Skill Development Policy 2009  to carry out an occupation mapping of their sectors and develop National Occupation Standards along with qualification packs for entry level jobs for level 1-4 as envisaged under the National Qualification Framework. These standards could then be used by any training organisation to deliver training and authorised assessors could carry out third party assessments on successful certification, the candidates would be given a certificate issued by the SSC and the reward money would be transferred to the bank account of the candidate. The candidate is expected to pay at least 25% of the course fees and the reward money could be used to pat part of the course fees. A brochure containing the details of the scheme is placed on the table in front of you.”

The Finance Minister released the National Occupational Standards and the training courseware for nine sectors which are participating in pilot – automotive, leather, BFSI, security, health, telecom, gems & jewellery, rubber and retail.

The three winners of the Medallion of Excellence at the World Skills Competition held in Germany in July were also felicitated by the Finance Minister. Their names are Bhabesh Jana for Jewellery,  Arun Raj Balasubramanium for Graphic Design and Sarthak Jain for IT Solutions and Applications.

Source : Ghouse Mohd