Budget 2012-13 Highlights on Education and Skill Development

Sanjaya Sharma, CEO, Tata Interactive Systems
“The Govt has realized and made some very positive decisions focused towards the learning and training of our workforce. This can be seen in the Projects approved by National Skill Development Corporation through which it expects to train 6.2 crore people at the end of 10 years. Every sector in India is challenged with severe crunch of skilled workforce and such initiatives by the NSDC will no doubt help fill the gap by training about 10 lakh workers in the next 10 years. Additionally Rs. 1000 crore more has been allocated for the national skill development fund 2012-13. Other welcome initiatives in this direction are the steps to improve the flow of institutional credit for skill development by setting up a separate Credit Guarantee Fund. The “Himayat” scheme introduced in J&K to provide skill training to 1 lakh youth in next 5 years whose entire cost will be borne by the Centre should be replicated in other states as well going forward. The Govt & NSDC should build on these initiatives and surely look at employing technology as a strategic partner to fast track and bridge the prevalent skills gap.”

Anil Goyal, Director, Mexus Education

“With 2500 model schools proposed to be set-up under Public-Private Partnerships, avenues to establish quality benchmarks across the country have opened in this financial year. We are looking forward to have a better defined regulatory structure for better utilization of deployed ICT in schools; with dedicated 975 crs in e-governance. However, this budget leaves a lot to be desired for capacity enhancement and encouraging private sector participation.”

Dilip Chenoy, CEO and MD, NSDC
“The Finance Minister should be complimented for his steadfast commitment to the cause of skill development. The additional infusion of Rs 1,000 crore into the National Skill Development Fund (NSDF), coming on top of the Rs 500 crore he had provided last year, would augment the corpus of the NSDF to Rs 2500 crore, and allow the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to fund more sustainable skills training initiatives that can benefit millions of youth nationwide. It would also strengthen our hands in contributing to the Prime Minister’s vision of training 500 million people by 2022. The launch of a credit guarantee fund and exempting vocational training institutions from paying service tax would prove a big help in the creation of a skills ecosystem in the country by making skills training affordable and removing the problem of financial accessibility to skills training programmes for those living at the bottom of the pyramid. It would allow them to enroll at skilling centers in larger numbers and use the training they receive to improve their stations in life and contribute to the country’s growth. The tax deduction provided to the manufacturing sector for investment in skills training initiatives would encourage a greater focus on skill development in this important sector of the economy and help in making the segment more productive, efficient and competitive. The thrust on skill development in traditional sectors, including handlooms, will ensure that these sectors can improve their way of operations significantly.”

Rajesh Janey, President, EMC India & SAARC

“The increased outlays on education with an emphasis of skilling the youth are necessary steps to leverage the demographic divided in the future and tap emerging opportunities in the areas of Information Technology such as cloud computing and Big Data. The decision to increase investment in Aadhar and leverage technology more in larger service delivery initiatives will also provide impetus to the domestic IT sector. Additionally, overall social development and improving India’s competitiveness in the areas of manufacturing, research and innovation augurs well for the overall inclusive growth of the economy.”