Govt skilling youth, preparing them for global market: Anurag Thakur

The Centre is skilling India's youth and making them job-ready for the requirements of the global market, said Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur on Thursday while launching the pilot of NYKS Youth volunteers' online training.

"Modi government is skilling India's youth and making them job-ready for the requirements of the global market. The global supply chain, services sector, and economy as a whole have immense potential to hire young, educated, skilled manpower and India is developing a huge resource of skilled manpower to cater to this demand," Thakur said on Thursday.

"Not only that, but we have also built a robust ecosystem that nurtures startups and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit amongst our youth," the minister said.

Mentioning India's current youth population, he said, "India's current youth population is approximately 230 million. A demographic dividend of this magnitude has the capability to uplift the nation and raise living standards for all. The youth have limitless potential for propelling social and economic progress of the country."

"India has a very important role to play in the 21st century whereby the whole world is looking at us and Youth can play a key role in this," Thakur stated.

The Union Minister said that the youth volunteers rendered valuable services and demonstrated heroic acts during the covid pandemic.

He further said that the training program will help in the development of their skills as volunteers to enable them to serve the nation with utmost commitment. Not only this, it will help them to develop as individuals and embark on a journey to become heroes of tomorrow, the Minister added.

Thakur said that as reiterated by the Prime Minister on several occasions, the youth must remain conscious about their duties and contribute to nation-building as a tribute to Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate 75 years of India's independence.

"The partnership with UNITAR and the Ministry will make a lasting impact on the personality development and livelihood of the youth participants, while also fostering nation-building and prosperity," he added.

According to him, it is an important step towards empowering India's youth and creating a network of like-minded, motivated individuals. "The youth of India are its future, and we must invest in them", Union Minister added.

Thakur also said that the content of the pilot training has been carefully selected and will deploy the latest technology like virtual reality and a total of 100 volunteers forming part of the pilot will lay the foundation for training one million youth soon.

He added, "strong critical thinking abilities, interpersonal skills, and leadership capabilities are at the forefront of personal progress and success in group situations. The training will focus on building these skills."

Secretary of Department of Youth Affairs Usha Sharma informed that the training will be conducted through a 12-15 days' self-paced, online training, using interactive, innovative tools and content adapting to the wide range of backgrounds and skills of the youth in India.

She said that the training will be available in English and in Hindi to start with and later, it will be provided in regional languages.

Secretary of Department of Youth Affairs Usha Sharma, Member Admin of Capacity Building Commission Praveen Pardeshi, Joint Secretary of Department of Youth Affairs Nitesh Kumar Mishra, and other officials of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.

(ANI)