New Delhi: Citing Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s overarching vision for skilling India’s youth on a massive scale, Shri Sunil Arora, the newly appointed Secretary, Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, today said that the Union Government is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to harness the potentiality of the youth of India by imparting/upgrading their skills and giving a fillip to the spirit of enterprise amongst them.

“Skilling India is a nation building exercise and has been accorded the highest priority by Government of India.  The movement has the power and purpose to unite the whole nation as one.  Achieving the target of skilling 500 million by 2022 will also help in meeting the inclusivity agenda of this government by benefiting citizens across the country,” said Shri Arora during this first visit to National Skill Development Corporation’s headquarters in New Delhi today.

Shri Arora, who took charge as India’s first Skills and Entrepreneurship Secretary on 2nd September, met with the senior management of NSDC to get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the country’s skilling eco-system.

NSDC has been spearheading the private sector’s role in skilling India since 2010.  The Corporation has skilled over 2 million people till date and targets to skill 150 million youth in the country by 2022.  Shri Arora was briefed on NSDC’s role and the significant contribution of the private sector in achieving the skilling targets.

“Both NSDC and the skilling ecosystem in the country have been given a major impetus with the creation of Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. We look forward to working with the first Secretary of the Department very closely”, said Shri Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, NSDC.

It would be recalled that on September 3rd, Minister for Skills, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal had chaired his first inter-ministerial meeting for a first-hand assessment of the progress made by various central ministries in their skill development initiatives.  This meeting was attended by Secretaries and other senior officials from more than 20 central ministries and Director General of National Skill Development Agency.

This inter-ministerial meeting was held to understand the progress made by various ministries and also initiate the processes of streamlining all skill-related efforts of various central ministries. Since the newly formed Skills Department will be co-ordinating the skilling mandate of the country, it was essential to understand and appreciate the work done so far and the challenges that lie ahead.