The Narendra Modi government has drawn much flak for failing to create enough jobs. Dismissing the criticism outright, Dharmendra Pradhan, minister for petroleum & natural gas and skill development & entrepreneurship, tells Aparajita Gupta that the situation is not dismal and more employment opportunities will be generated in the future. Excerpts:
Skill development was a major focus of the government. What schemes were launched in the past five years and how many people have been trained and employed?
Skill development is a vast area. There are four stakeholders: the central government with more than 20 ministries, the state governments, the industry bodies and the philanthropists. All these existed before we came to power, but our PM prioritised upskilling and reskilling, and gave it momentum. That’s how the Skill India Mission came about. He got all courses and curricula aligned accordingly. The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) were already there for long-term skilling,...