Shri Dharmendra Pradhan called upon the youth to act as catalysts of social change at the grassroots

Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today launched the phase-II of Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, a two-year long fellowship conceived to create opportunity for young, dynamic individuals to contribute to enhancing skill development at the grassroots.

The two-year fellowship seeks to combine classroom sessions by academic partner IIMs  with an intensive field immersion at the district level to create credible plans and identify barriers in raising employment, economic output, and promote livelihoods in rural areas.

Shri Pradhan while speaking on the occasion, called upon fellows to act as catalysts of social change at the grassroots by driving skill development efforts. He also called upon district collectors and academic partner IIMs to facilitate the fellows and script a success story of change through this fellowship.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, we are moving towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Tremendous transformations taking place across sectors will create demand for new skills and more skilled professionals and thus calls for skill mapping at district level and directing skill development efforts accordingly, he added.

In line with the requirements of 21st century and local realities, Minister Pradhan called upon the fellows to work with global thinking and local approach including integrating local language in the skill development efforts.

Speaking about the National Education Policy 2020, Shri Pradhan outlined the vision to create strong convergence between education and skills and recent initiatives in this direction including the Academic Bank of Credit. He called upon the IIMs to make the fellows aware about the National Education Policy.

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, MSDE; Ms Anuradha Vemuri, Joint Secretary, MSDE; Shri Ashwin Gowda, Mission Director, Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC); Mr Swapnil Tembe, District Collector, East Garo Hills, Meghalaya; Mr P. Sunil Kumar, District Collector, Vijayapura, Karnataka and Prof Arnab Mukherji, IIM Bangalore.