"Sustainable private-public partnership required for skill development"

The event saw more than 650 stakeholders from the skills ecosystem across the country, participate in the event. 

The event had participants across 31 Sector Skill Councils, 136 training partners, representation from employers and key ministries from Government of India.

The two-day bi-annual event had Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of State – Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India, as its Chief Guest.

Delivering the inaugural address, Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of State – Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India said, “The target for NSDC is to skill 3.3 million this year and I am sure the team will ensure that they are met. It is absolutely necessary to ensure that the industry be made a major partner in skilling India and NSDC has been extremely successful in engaging and exponentially growing the efforts of the private sector.”

Commenting on the newly formed Ministry for Skill Development, Sonowal further added, “We are in the process of activating the Ministry of Skill Development and are currently consulting with all major stakeholders including the private sector. We believe an effective and sustainable partnership between private and public sector would be crucial for this ambitious mission to be achieved. This Ministry will assist and enable in every possible way new, creative and self-sustaining mechanisms to ensure that goals set by the Honourable Prime Minister for Skill India are achieved.”

Talking about the skills landscape in Manipur, V.K.Duggal, Honorable Governor, Manipursaid "There is an urgent and imperative need to close the gap between the manpower demand and supply across all states. We have immensely talented youth in the North-Eastern states, especially Manipur, who have great potential in the hospitality, IT and healthcare sectors. We will certainly focus on our region and ensure we create a complete ecosystem for the youth of Manipur."

Mukul Sangma, Chief Minister, Meghalaya said, “The country needs to harness its demographic dividend by skilling the youth and we would specifically like to focus on encouraging the youth of Meghalaya to gain skills for self-employment and entrepreneurship. We have also focused on the women of our state and have established number multi-facility centres in specific regions and villages which will help provide them skill trainings.”

Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India said that there is a need to analyse in-depth, have a customized approach sector wise and as our honourable Prime Minister says we should not only focus on skilling for the country but for the global shortage of skills.