Skill development gets a boost in budget

A sum of Rs 1,000 crore was proposed to be allocated to a scheme of giving monetary rewards to students passing skill tests by NSDC

Skill development was clearly one of priorities of the Finance Ministers in the Union Budget.  A sum of Rs 1,000 crore was proposed to be allocated to a scheme of giving monetary rewards to students passing skill tests by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

NSDC has been asked to set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills. Any institution or body may offer training courses. At the end of the training, the candidate will be required to take a test conducted by authorised certification bodies. Upon passing the test, the candidate will be given a certificate as well as a monetary reward of an average of Rs 10,000 per candidate.

Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS University and Co-Chair, FICCI, Higher Education Committee, "To increase the demand among youth for vocational education , the FM has incentivised students by giving them a reward of Rs.10,000 after successful completion of the program. This should lead to the growth of Vocational education and help create an ecosystem for vocational education."

Dhiraj Mathur, Leader Education, PwC India added that in a country where nearly 64 per cent of the population will be of working age by 2021, government’s proposal of setting Rs 1000 crores aside for motivating nearly 10 million youth to voluntarily join skill development programmes and releasing funds from other schemes for skill development activities is a welcome move.

For promoting sports coaches, the FM has proposed to set up the National Institute of Sports Coaching at Patiala at a cost of Rs 250 crore over a period of three years. Further, the finance minister said that the government is committed to the creation of Nalanda University as a centre of educational excellence.

A total of Rs 300 crore (Rs 100 crore each) has been set aside as grant for supporting institutions of excellence, including Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh campus, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati campus and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

One of the biggest motivators for institutes having business incubators on campus is the FM statement that Ministry of Corporate Affairs will notify that funds provided to technology incubators will qualify as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  expenditure. The new Companies Bill obliges companies to spend 2 per cent of average net profits under CSR. This provision is for those technology incubators located within academic institutions and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology or Ministry of MSME.

 E. Abraham, S J., Director of Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur said that with incubators set up by companies in academic institutions qualifying as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity entrepreneurship in higher education institutions will get a major boost. "XLRI as a respected management institution looks forward to welcoming forward-thinking organisations to set-up incubators in our campus. With the economy getting more mature it is imperative that entrepreneurs are encouraged to help shape a vibrant economy and sustainable future," he said.