Improving Employability of the Youth

• 18 Jun 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Ministry of Labour and Employment and UNICEF have signed a Statement of Intent to improve employment outcomes for the youth in India.

• According to Census 2011, every fifth person in India is a youth (15-24 years).
• UNICEF is a special program of the United Nations (UN) devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children. ‘The State of the World's Children' is UNICEF's flagship report.

Key Points

• Purpose of this Collaboration:
  
  • It intends to provide a platform for cooperation between the Ministry and UNICEF to leverage the existing mainstreamed initiatives of both parties in select states.
  • This will co-create and implement solutions at scale to tackle the employment and skilling challenges for adolescents and youth in India, with focus on vulnerable populations.
    
    • Vulnerable Populations include young people with special needs, youth leaving care institutions, migrant youth, victims of child labour, violence, child marriage and trafficking and like other matter.
• Areas of Collaboration:
  
  • Connecting young people with employment opportunities.
  • Upskilling of young people on 21^st century skills including life skills, financial skills, digital skills, vocations skills etc.
  • Strengthening National Career Service (NCS).
  • Support in Job forecasting by exploring the gaps.
  • Supporting direct dialogue and the establishment of a feedback mechanism between youth and policy stakeholders.
• National Career Service (NCS):
  
  • About:
    
    • It was launched in 2015, within the umbrella of the e-governance plan.
    • It is a one-stop solution that provides a wide array of employment and career related services to the citizens of India.
  • Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Labour & Employment.
  • Three Pillars: The NCS project reaches out to the people of this country through its three essential pillars i.e.
    
    • A well designed ICT based portal which is NCS portal,
    • Country wide set up of Model Career Centers and
    • Interlinkage with all the states through employment exchanges.
• UNICEF’s Initiative (YuWaah):
  
  • The India chapter of Generation Unlimited (GenU) – YuWaah – was born in 2018.
  • GenU is a global multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition to productive work and active citizenship.
  • In India, by 2030, YuWaah aims to ensure, the following:
    
    • Build pathways for 100 million young people to aspirational economic opportunities.
    • Facilitate 200 million young people to gain relevant skills for productive lives and the future of work.
    • Partner with 300 million young people as changemakers and create spaces for developing their leadership.

Other Initiatives Taken to Improve Employability of the Youth

• National Youth Policy-2014 provides a holistic Vision for the youth of India which is “to empower the youth of the country to achieve their full potential, and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations”.
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): It was introduced in 2008 for generation of employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises in rural as well as urban areas. It is administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY): It was launched in 2015 for providing loans up to Rs. 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro-enterprises. It has a focus on self-employment.
• Pradhan Mantri Rojgar ProtsahanYojana (PMRPY): It has been launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for incentivising employers for promoting employment generation. The Government is paying the entire employer’s contribution towards EPF and EPS for all eligible new employees for all sectors for 3 years.
• Increased public expenditure on schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) scheme run by Ministry of Rural Development and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) run by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.
• Other Flagship Programmes which have the Potential to Generate Employment: Make in India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Housing for All, Industrial corridors, etc.

Source: PIB