Skills key to make use of growing opportunities in India: Chandrasekhar

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said India was witnessing "exciting times" at present and today's youngsters belong to the "luckiest generation" in the country's history considering the opportunities created by the Narendra Modi government.

He also said that India's economy was expanding and in order to make use of the growing opportunities, one needs to have skills.

Chandrashekhar was addressing the 'Skill Development Initiatives in Goa and Guru Ka Samman' programme organised by the Centre and the Goa government under the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma scheme. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was also present.

"I am associated with the progress of the country technologically for the last 30-35 years. I must say you are the luckiest generation in India's history considering the opportunities that are generated under Modi-led government," the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Electronics and Information Technology said.

He said that in 2014, India was one of the five most fragile economies.

"In 2014, 42 crore was the size of our workforce, of that 31 crore was without skilling or education," Chandrasekhar said. Three out of four persons in the workforce were without skilling or education, he said, adding that in the last nine-and-a-half years of the Modi-led government, India has become one of the five topmost economies of the world, and will be the third largest economy in the years to come.

He said that it is a dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the youth will drive the economy of the country through the opportunities that are created for them. Chandrasekhar said that on lines of schemes like Har Ghar Jal, gas cylinder in every household, health insurance to all, the government has rolled out skilling programme for every household. "Skilling is more important than (educational) degree in this changing times of workforce landscape. These are exciting times in our country's history," he added.

"Our economy is expanding and there are various opportunities that are created, but to take the benefit of these opportunities, you should have skills," the minister said.

Addressing the gathering, Goa CM Sawant said 30,000 people have already registered their names in Goa under the PM Vishwakarma scheme.

He also announced that the state government will give approval for double degrees for those students who are already pursuing their degree courses. "Those who are pursuing the degree can also enrol themselves in the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)," he said. The chief minister said there are 10,000 people who are enrolled for apprenticeship in the government sector, while 7,000-8,000 are enrolled in the private sector under the same scheme. The state government has decided to fill all the government vacancies in future with the criteria that the candidate should have one year of experience or should have completed the apprenticeship training, Sawant added.