New Delhi, May 15, 2020.

National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC), in partnership with The/Nudge Foundation, and supported by the deAsra Foundation and G.A.M.E. India to co-organise the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship event at #charcha2020 scheduled from May 14^th to May 16^th, 2020. The virtual event aims to act as a platform towards enabling constructive conversations on ways to overcome the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak on the skill development and entrepreneurship ecosystem in India. With 24 power-packed sessions being led by 50+ eminent speakers and panelists over three days, #charcha2020 will facilitate important discussions around critical pieces of governance, policy, interventions and actions required to resolve the pressing challenges faced by the skill development sector as a consequence of the global pandemic.

The skill development and entrepreneurship event commenced yesterday with a plenary session on ‘Convergent India to a better post-COVID world’, with Mr.Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog and Mr. Amit Chandra, Managing Director, Bain Capital Private Equity. This was followed by the opening address by Mr. Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Today, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC delivers a keynote address on ‘Governance and policies to create an environment for accelerated recovery’. Over the course of three-days, multiple sessions will be organised on various topics including the future of jobs and methodologies of skilling in the emerging new normal along with inspirational stories of success through skill empowerment.

In his opening address, Mr. Praveen Kumar said, “The current pandemic environment solicits rethinking and redesigning of strategies and practices to plan skilling and livelihood of workforce for self-sustainability. The government has proactively made every effort, and continues to do so, to improve sentiment and set the stage for the youngsters of India to reach their full potential and contribute the most to the country as a whole.”

He further said, “I believe that a productive discussion with industry partners, thought leaders, policymakers and understanding their constraints, and learning from their experience will help us bridge the gap and implement new, improved models for skills provision to create new capabilities in context of the new post COVID environment.”

On the opening day,the discussions covered subjects like skilling for the future, the role of upskilling, reskilling and alternate skilling, evolution of the funding landscape, sectoral challenges and opportunities in times of crisis and compassionate economy for sustainable development.  The day-2 covers topics such as the evolving role of foundations in India's development journey, opportunities in skilling economy, governance and policies to create an environment for accelerated recovery, innovation and digital transformation in the skilling sector, need for a collaborative for mass entrepreneurship and nonprofits’ response to COVID-19 crisis. Day-3, marked for entrepreneurship, will deliberate upon subjects like Indian economy’s recovery through inclusive growth, increasing the competitiveness of the middle of the pyramid enterprises and the role of technology in entrepreneurship.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Manish Kumar said, “The Charcha 2020 platform aims at collaboratively brainstorming on adaptive programs and strategies for skill development and entrepreneurship, given the challenges imposed by ongoing pandemic.”

Sharing his thoughts on Charcha 2020, Atul Satija, Founder, The/Nudge Foundation said, “The ramifications of the outbreak of the global pandemic has impacted India's development sector significantly. Charcha 2020 is in line with our vision to enable necessary interventions needed to reimagine the design of the social development sector and boost the infrastructure needed to solve for India's most pressing problems. The platform aims at bringing together thought leaders to enable engaging conversations on the need to put together a strategic framework in response to the pandemic and build resilience against future shocks of this nature.”