24
S
tate
of
I
ndia
’
s
L
ivelihoods
R
eport
2015
Business) Rules were amended in March
2015 to provide space to the NITI Aayog in
place of the erstwhile Planning Commission.
The amended Business Rules state that the
NITI Aayog is the successor of the Planning
Commission. In terms of roles, the work
allocation seems to envisage the NITI Aayog
as being (a) a thinktank, (b) a catalyst in col-
laborative work, research and studies with
other public and private sector knowledge
institutions, (c) arbiter of inter-sector and
inter-departmental conflicts and (d) evalu-
ator of policies and programmes.
While there has been skepticism in some
quarters on what the NITI Aayog will do dif-
ferently, its lack of direct accountability to
the Parliament
4
and lack of adequate organi-
sational structure and staffing, the Aayog is
still very young and will be able to deal with
structure and staffing issues in time. The
Aayog is similar in nature to the Planning
Commission in terms of accountability to
the Parliament. The Aayog does not have
the powers to allocate funds to states or
approve projects/programmes. Hence, it
will not thrust its ideas on the states and will
not be a top-down institution, which must
be welcomed by the state governments. The
usefulness of the Aayog in economic policy-
making depends on the kind of personnel
that man it and the freedom to voice its
opinions in public.
National policy on skill development
and entrepreneurship
5
The government issued a draft policy for
consultation and inputs. The Policy esti-
mates that about 120million youth will have
to be provided with skills of various types
over the period from 2015 till 2022. The
vision articulated in the policy is “to create
an ecosystem of empowerment by Skilling
on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards
so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods for all
citizens and to place India in the committee
of front ranking entrepreneurial and inno-
vative nations.” The mission as enunciated
in the draft is as follows:
•
Create a demand for skilling across the
country;
•
Correct and align the skilling with
required competencies;
•
Connect a supply of skilled human
resources with sectoral demands;
•
Certify and assess the alignment with
global and national standards; and
•
Catalyse an ecosystemwherein opportu-
nity-based and innovative entrepreneur-
ship germinates and grows, leading to
the creation of a more dynamic entre-
preneurial economy.
The Policy’s objectives on skill develop-
ment rightly focus on the youth’s mindshift
to make vocational and skills training an
aspirational choice and to convince employ-
ers that skilled manpower is the key to pro-
ductivity. The other objectives are to ensure
that the gap in skills of human resources
(HR) in various spheres of economic activity
is filled with skilled manpower and to focus
on result-based approaches where employ-
ability of trained people is prioritised, to
create quality training and skilling infra-
structure, to introduce quality assurance
and certification for skill standards and to
build an IT platform in which the demand
for skills and skilled manpower can find its
match. In entrepreneurship, the objectives
go beyond training and advocacy for enter-
prise creation. It seeks to create a suitable
environment for business, build support
network for mentors, resource persons and
foster the spirit of social entrepreneurship
to serve the vulnerable people.
The newly formed Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship
implements the Policy and monitors the
results. It is helped by the National Skill
Development Agency (NSDA), National
4
Ministry of Planning is accountable to the
Parliament for the work of the NITI Aayog as per the
Business Rules.
5
Source: Draft National Policy on Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of National Policy on
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, May 2015,
Government of India.
