Parliament Question: Skill development and employment

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 327 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026 SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT 327 SHRI HARSH VARDHAN SHRINGLA: Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the initiatives undertaken for skill development of minority youth; (b) the convergence with national skilling programmes; (c) the placement and entrepreneurship outcomes; and (d) the contribution to inclusive growth? ANSWER MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU) (a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the table of the house. *****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 327 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SHRI HARSH VARDHAN SHRINGLA REGARDING “SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT”. (a) to (b): The Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) is a flagship Scheme of MoMA which converges five erstwhile schemes, including ‘Seekho aur Kamao’ (SAK), ‘USTTAD’, ‘Hamari Dharohar’, ‘Nai Manzil’ and ‘Nai Roshni’. The scheme focuses on the socio-economic empowerment of the six notified minority communities through skill development; entrepreneurship and leadership of minority women; and education support for school dropouts. The scheme guidelines were approved in January 2025, and the process to allocate projects under the scheme was initiated thereafter. So far, a target of 1.47 lakh beneficiaries has been allocated to Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs), against which training has been completed for more than 1000 candidates, as on date. Skill development is being undertaken under the scheme in National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned job roles in order to ensure alignment with the national skilling programmes. Furthermore, the entire candidate lifecycle under the PM VIKAS scheme is being captured on the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH) portal. (c) For the placement & entrepreneurship oriented components of the scheme, the following are mandated in the PM VIKAS Scheme guidelines:- 1) Component 1: Skilling and Training (i) Traditional training sub component : the PIAs are required to promote entrepreneurship amongst artisans by facilitating development of Artisan Producer Organizations (on the lines of Producer Organizations) / Self-help Groups (SHGs)/ individual or group Enterprises. (ii) Non- traditional Skilling sub component : it is mandated for the PIAs to ensure placement of at least 75 percent skilled beneficiaries in some form of employment (wage/ self-employment/ apprenticeship), of which at least 50 percent should be placed in organized sector, as categorised in the NSQF/ CCN. 2) Component 2: Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship It is mandatory for PIAs to ensure that at least 15 percent of the total beneficiaries enrolled under the Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship Component of the scheme, are provided career counselling/ skill training/ placement. Since the implementation of various projects is currently underway, placement/ wage employment/ self-employment related interventions shall be carried out by the PIAs only after completion of the training.(d) The scheme contributes to inclusive growth through targeted interventions for minority communities, while also allowing participation of up to 15% to 25% beneficiaries (varies component wise) from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of non-minority communities. For ensuring gender inclusiveness, a minimum of 33% and 50% allocations are earmarked for women under the Skilling and Training; and Education components respectively. Moreover, a dedicated Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship components is exclusively for women. For Divyangjan, a provision of 3% allocation has been mandated across all components of the scheme. By integrating skilling, education support, entrepreneurship and livelihood support, and by balancing targeted benefits with broader inclusion, the scheme seeks to effectively promote inclusive development. *****