New Delhi, February 2023.

To empower our youth and help the ‘Amrit Peedhi’ realize their dreams, we have formulated the National Education Policy, focused on skilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate job creation at scale, and have supported business opportunities, said Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union budget 2023-2024 in Parliament here today.

Union Budget 2023-2024 adopts seven priorities, which complement each other and act as the ‘Saptarishi’ guiding us through the Amrit Kaal. Youth Power is one of the priority areas which include Skill Development.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0

The finance minister announced that Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years. The scheme will emphasize on On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of industry. She further highlighted that the scheme will also cover new age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills.

Smt Sitharaman also proposed to set up 30 Skill India International Centres across different States to skill the youth for international opportunities

National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme

The Minister announced the roll-out the Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme to provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years.

Unified Skill India Digital platform

Smt Sitharaman informed that the digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded with the launch of a unified Skill India Digital platform. Elaborating on the platform, she said it would

·         Enable demand-based formal skilling

·         Link with employers including MSMEs

·         Facilitate access to entrepreneurship schemes