PMKVY fails to achieve its job placement target

New Delhi: The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which was launched in 2015 with the aim of providing skill training to people through short term training (STT), has between 2016-17 and June 2019, managed to provide placement only to 43 per cent of the total 28,06,573 youths trained under it.

According to figures available with this newspaper, out of the aforementioned persons trained under PMKVY, only 12,07,049 persons have been successfully placed till June 2019.

Considering the fact that the Prime Minister has set a target of providing skill training to 40.02 crore people by 2022, the current rate of persons trained as well as placed, does not seem to reflect the intent of the entire programme, as only 28 lakh odd persons have been trained under STT of PMKVY.  

Mr Modi had launched PMKVY on July 15, 2015, the occasion of the first World Youth Skills Day, under the NDA government’s Skill India initiative.

He had set the aforementioned target of providing skill training to 40 crore people by 2022 on the same occasion.

If in the first four years since the inception of the scheme, only 43 per cent of candidates having received short term training have found placements, the figures vis-a-vis the total persons trained and reported placed in each year since 2016-17 are also nothing to be optimistic about.

In 2016-17 a total of 50,854 persons were trained. However only a dismal 281 could find placement.

The next year, i.e. 2017-18, of the 16,24,752 persons who received short term training under PMKVY, around 4,54,337 could be placed. This means only 28 per cent could find placement.

The number of persons receiving placement witnessed a remarkable improvement in 2018-19, when out of 9 lakh persons trained, 6,74,717 were successfully placed, i.e. 75 per cent candidates found jobs as skilled workers.

During the current fiscal, till June 12, 2019, out of the 2,30,552 persons trained under the scheme, only 77,714 have been placed till date.

The placement percentage till now in the ongoing financial year is only 33 per cent. However with the year still in progress, it can be hoped that this rate may improve. But looking at the fact that the overall placement rate is not so convincing, a lot of ground needs to be covered under the scheme, if the government wants to achieve its ambitious target of skilling 40 crore people by 2022.