Last Updated : 16-08-2020

IndiaSkills

Background

India’s excellence in different artistic and culinary skill sets is described in our ancient and contemporary literature and it will not be an exaggeration to say that it is still ingrained in the soil of remotest part of the country. Further, after globalization India has also developed its niche particularly in IT related skill sets like web designing, graphic design technology, IT software solutions for business, mobile robotics etc. To make India the “Skill Capital” of the world, it is essentially required to showcase the country’s excellence in different skill sets across the globe. To penetrate these competitions to the remotest part of the country and to encourage Indian youth to participate in these competitions and get selected to participate in WorldSkills and other International competitions, the IndiaSkills competitions have been organized at State and Regional levels for the first time which lead up to IndiaSkills Nationals 2018.

Aims and objectives:

To create a transparent and organized system for preparing India’s talented youth for World Skills Competitions;
Access of knowledge and awareness for India Skills and World Skills competitions to the remotest part of the country;
To revive India’s local/ domestic skill sets like pottery, chikankari, embroidery, painting and many others;
To encourage Indian youth for harnessing their skills;
To make skill aspirational and rewarding which can create a sense of proud and achievement in Indian youth;
To decentralize the process of skill development by involving States in the process;
To provide financial support to the States on the basis of Scheme/ project implementation plans;
To create adequate infrastructure and capacity for organizing such competitions;
To showcase India’s skill sets to the world in a more systematic and organized manner.

The IndiaSkills 2018 Competitions achieved several milestones. Some key highlights are as under:

Registrations: For the competitions registrations were invited by MSDE and States/ UTs through newspapers, radio, social media and direct outreach. With a 10 fold increase in registration over IndiaSkills 2016, 50,000 plus registrations have been received from all over the country and the competitions were held in 50 diverse trades in over 500 Institutions, District, Zonal State, Regional and National level.
Number of Trades: In 2016 there were 26 trades but for 2018 the number of trades has been increased to 50 including 4 demo trades. States have also been encouraged to take up traditional trades and skill competitions in traditional trades.
State Participation: For the first time, 23 States/ UTs from Jammu & Kashmir in the North to Kerala in the South and Gujrat in the west to Nagaland in the east joined hands along with industry leaders, academic institutes, ITIs, Polytechnics, Tool Rooms to create awareness and provide platforms and training to identify and train talent from across the country. More than 150 technical workshops have been conducted for the purpose of capacity building of States, Organizers, Trainers and Institutions. A grant of up to Rs. 50 lakhs were given to 20 states for conducting the District level and State level Skill Competitions as part of the scheme.
Supporting Skill Competitions for Persons with Disability: IndiaSkills Competitions became the first inclusive skill competition where skill-based competitions were organized for persons with disability in 10 trades in partnership with National Abilympics Association of India (NAAI). MSDE has provided partial funding to NAAI through NSDC for conducting Skill Competitions of PwD for the FY 2018-19. The winners will be further trained for their participation in Abilympics 2020 which is equivalent of Olympics for Persons with Disabilities in skills. The Skill Competitions for PwD not only discover and nurture the talent of persons with disabilities but also create awareness in the society at large about their productive skills of persons with disabilities.
Sector Skill Councils: 19 SSCs have been entrusted the task of acting as knowledge partners and assisting with conduct of Skill Competitions. They are taking the help of industry and academic institutions.
Competitor Profile: The Competitors for IndiaSkills 2018 are mainly from Government ITIs, Engineering Colleges, PMKVY, Corporates, IHM/NIFT/NID/CIPET/MSME TOOL Rooms and School dropout.
Regional Skill Competitions: For the first time, 4 Regional Competitions were organized in Jaipur (West), Lucknow (North), Bhubaneshwar (East) and Bangalore (South) in 46 WorldSkills Trades. The Regional Competitions witnessed over 950 competitors and attracted more than 20,000 visitors.
Advocacy: Skill Competitions have several outcomes such as advocacy through raising awareness and aspirations by recognizing talent. Through #AbSkillsKiBari, Indiaskills reached out to more than 2 crore people through its social media presence which created a ripple effect in States. WorldSkills India won Gold in the India Content Leadership Awards – one of the most prestigious awards for digital marketing in India. Further, MSDE has directed the States/ UTs that a minimum 5% of approved funding should be spent for advocacy and publicity since awareness levels in the country about Skill Competitions is very low.
National Competitions ‘IndiaSkills 2018’: The National Skills Competition - IndiaSkills 2018 was successfully organized by MSDE in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation from 2nd to 6th October, 2018 at New Delhi in which more than 400 competitors from 27 states displayed their skills in 46 skills, 7 traditional skills and 4 demo skills, before experts and jury members. More than 15,000 visitors attended the IndiaSkills 2018 competition. A total of 164 winners (45 gold, 47 silver and 43 bronze medal) were awarded medals in their respective skill categories. Maharashtra topped the medals tally with 23 medals, followed by Odisha, which had 21 winners. Karnataka and Delhi came third with 16 medals each, while Chandigarh finished in the fifth position with 12 medals. The winners of IndiaSkills will be further trained followed by squad selections to represent India at the 45th WorldSkills Competition at Kazan, Russia in 2019. The event also hosted a State Skill Minister’s Conference, Corporate Roundtable, Seminars, Exhibition of skill initiatives of various Ministries, Counselling sessions etc.
International Exposure and Training: As part of training schedule, the national winners of IndiaSkills 2018 have participated in the following competitions to gain international expertise and did the country proud: