'Only The Frustrated Don't See The Jobs'

The Narendra Modi government has drawn much flak for failing to create enough jobs. Dismissing the criticism outright, Dharmendra Pradhan, minister for petroleum & natural gas and skill development & entrepreneurship, tells Aparajita Gupta that the situation is not dismal and more employment opportunities will be generated in the future.

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Skill development was a major focus of the government. What schemes were launched in the past five years and how many people have been trained and employed?

Skill development is a vast area. There are four stakeholders: the central government with more than 20 ministries, the state governments, the industry bodies and the philanthropists. All these existed before we came to power, but our PM prioritised upskilling and reskilling, and gave it momentum. That’s how the Skill India Mission came about. He got all courses and curricula aligned accordingly. The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) were already there for long-term skilling, and now we have short-term skilling too—needbased skilling ranging from one week to three months. Every year, of the 2.4 crore children who reach 15 years of age, half go for higher education and the rest are compelled to enter the workforce. But, while our education system provides knowledge, employability remains a challenge. Our government embarked on the Skill India Mission to enhance employability, get people into a common framework with common certification and give them a brand. We should build our workforce not only for India, but also for the economy of the neighbourhood. We have a demographic dividend and are working towards developing it.

There are many graduates who do not have proper skill sets and are hence unemployed. What have you done to address this?