Bhupender Yadav launches DigiSaksham; digital skills programme aims to enhance youth employability

New Delhi: Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday launched DigiSaksham, a digital skills programme to enhance the employability of youth by imparting digital skills that are required in an increasingly technology driven era. This joint initiative with Microsoft India is an extension of the government’s ongoing programmes to support the youth from rural and semi-urban areas, a labour ministry statement said. Through DigiSaksham initiative, free of cost training in digital skills including basic skills as well as advance computing will be provided to more than 3 lakh youths in the first year. Jobseekers can access the training through National Career Service (NCS) Portal. The initiative gives priority to the job-seekers of semi urban areas belonging to disadvantaged communities, including those who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking at the launch, the Union minister said that with fast paced technology up gradations, constant skilling, reskilling and up-skilling is a must. Under the DigiSaksham initiative, there will be basically three types of training viz, Digital Skills – self paced learning, VILT mode training (virtual instructor led) and ILT mode training (instructor led), the statement said. The ILT training which is in person training would be conducted at the Model Career Centres (MCCs) and National Career Service Centres (NCSC) for SCs/STs across the country. Through this initiative, nearly one crore active jobseekers registered on National Career Service (NCS) Portal will be able to access training in areas like Java Script, Data Visualisation, Advance Excel, Power Bi, HTML, programming languages, software development fundamentals, introduction to coding, etc, equipping them with the skills required in a digital economy, the statement said. DigiSaksham will be implemented in the field by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India (AKRSP-I). On this occasion, the union minister also highlighted the importance of skilling in bridging India’s digital divide, placing the country on the path to inclusive economic recovery and preparing India’s talent to thrive in a digital future catering not only to the needs of the domestic economy but also to tap the overseas employment opportunities. Speaking at the launch event, President Microsoft India Anant Maheshwari said that skills of future will be different from today and bridging the digital skill equity gap requires involvement and close cooperation of government and private sector working with people that will further accelerate India’s transition to ‘‘Digital Economy’’. The DigiSaksham initiative will equip more than 300,000 youth in technical skills in the first year and Jobseekers can access Microsoft learning resources such as programming languages, data analytics, software development fundamentals and advanced digital productivity on the National Career Service (NCS) portal, the statement said. The initiative gives priority to the job-seekers of semi urban areas belonging to disadvantaged communities, particularly the candidates from the socially and economically backward communities, marginalised communities, people who have been displaced or lost jobs due to COVID-19. Microsoft India has also roped in Aga Khan Rural Support Programme-India and its knowledge partner TMI e2E Academy for rolling out this digital initiative. The Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing the National Career Service (NCS) Project as a Mission Mode Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc. The services under NCS are available online which was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India in 2015. All the services available in the portal are free of cost for all stakeholders including jobseekers, employers, training providers and placement organisations. The NCS portals can be accessed directly or from Career Centres (Employment Exchanges), Common Service Centres, post offices, mobile devices, cyber cafes etc. With the increased focus of government on career counselling service, the ministry has created a network of more than 700 career counsellors who are regularly publishing their schedules on NCS portal. Knowledge Repository of Career Counselling content has been created by digitising the existing counselling literature and making it amenable for periodic updating by stakeholders and made accessible to various users. Occupational information on more than 3,600 occupations based on National Classification of Occupations 2015 is also available under career information, the statement said. The Government of India has provided financial assistance to the states for setting-up model career centres and has already approved 207 Model Career Centres (including seven non-funded MCCs) and it has been decided to create another 200 more career centres across the states/UTs, it added. The NCS portal also provided an open architecture for partnering of institutions and organisations for delivery of career and employment related services. The ministry has engaged with several institutions and organisations to bring more and more job opportunities to our workforce with some of the leading institutions organisations such as Quikr Jobs, Monster.com, Freshers World, First Job, Mera Job, Synergy relationship Management Services Private Limited, VSS Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd, Monter.com, Saral Rozgar, Cassius Technologies Pvt Ltd, Shine.com, etc, the statement said. The NCS portal is now being integrated with other ministries/departments like MSDE, MHRD, AICTE, etc. Today, the job market is more competitive and employers are now looking for employability skills along with expertise in subject matter as essential traits in their potential employees. Employability skills are those skills that go beyond qualifications and experience.