New Delhi, 27 December 2021.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the nodal agency for skill and entrepreneurship development working under the guidance of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, will organize IndiaSkills 2021 National Competition at India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from 6 to 10 January 2022.  Under Skill India  Mission, the country’s biggest skill competition will bring together more than 500 participants from 26 states/ union territories, covering 54 skills such as beauty therapy, cyber security, floristry, autobody repair, cloud computing, water technology, painting and decorating, health and social care, among others.

Seven new-age skills—robot systems integration, additive manufacturing, digital construction, industry 4.0, renewable energy, mobile applications development, and industrial design technology—have been introduced to the competition this year, keeping pace with the emerging technologies.

Witnessing over 2.5 lakh registrations, IndiaSkills 2021 began with district and state-level competitions in August-September.  The state level competitions were conducted across 26 states/ UTs.  This was followed by four regional competitions for East (Patna), West (Gandhinagar), North (Chandigarh) and South (Visakhapatnam), where 1,500 competitors pitted their skills against each other to qualify for the national round. The 500+ finalists from the four regionals will now be exhibiting their skills at the National level to vie for a gold and a silver medal in each skill category.

Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, NSDC said, “IndiaSkills Competition aims to create a pool of talented and skilled workforce, who will fuel the economic growth of the country. The competition offers a national platform to the youth and exposure to global training standards.  It is a step towards discovering the power of skills and making vocational training aspirational for the youth.”

Abilympics Demonstrations for Persons with Disabiities

IndiaSkills Nationals will also feature Abilympics, a demonstration of skills for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in 16 skills including computer programming, painting, embroidery, and poster designing. With such participation, IndiaSkills has the potential to reach the grass-root level and is a major step towards bridging the gap between the demand and supply of a skilled workforce.

Journey from IndiaSkills to WorldSkills

The winners of IndiaSkills 2021 National Competition will undergo rigorous training to represent India at WorldSkills Shanghai, to be held in October 2022.

Winners of IndiaSkills Nationals will get multi-level industry training through boot camps and programmes such as project-based training, industry and corporate training, exposure visits to industries, mind coaching, and personality development. NSDC, through its Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and Partner Institutes, trains the candidates for the competitions and for future endeavors.