'Skilling country's youth top priority of govt'

The government today said that skilling the country's youths has been accorded "highest" priority in keeping with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his first engagement with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), newly appointed secretary of the Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Sunil Arora said the government is leaving "no stone unturned" to harness potential of the youth by upgrading their skills.
"Government is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to harness the potentiality of the youth of India by imparting and upgrading their skills and giving a fillip to the spirit of enterprise among them," Arora said, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of skilling India on a massive scale.

After taking over as secretary of his department on September 2 of the newly formed ministry, Arora met with senior officials of NSDC to understand challenges and opportunities in the country's skilling eco-system.
"Skilling India is a nation-building exercise and has been accorded the highest priority by government. The movement has power and purpose to unite the whole nation as one. Achieving the target of skilling 500 million by 2022 will also help in meeting the inclusivity agenda of this government by benefiting citizens across the country," he said.
NSDC which has been spearheading private sector's role in skilling India since 2010, has skilled over 2 million people till date and aims to skill 150 million youth in the country by 2022.

"Both NSDC and the skilling ecosystem in the country have been given a major impetus with the creation of Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and look forward to working with the Secretary closely," said Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO, NSDC.
Skills, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had chaired the first inter-ministerial meeting on September 3 to understand the progress made by various ministries and also initiate the processes of streamlining all skill-related efforts of various central ministries.
The meeting was attended by secretaries and senior officials of more than 20 central ministries.