National Skill Development Corporation to bridge the skill gap
The Government of India had constituted a Committee known as Common Norms Committee (CNC) for providing recommendations on cost norms for skill development schemes/programmes implemented by Government of India. Common Norms Committee (CNC) for Skill Development Schemes has decided that 1.5% of the average training cost per trainee for 3 months, or 1.5% of the hourly base cost rate (as applicable as per category of trade undergoing the training) may be allowed as COVID Allowance. The COVID allowance would be funded out of the grants already made available for training.
During the pandemic induced lockdown, the National Skill Development Corporation has promoted online skilling through eSkill India portal. This e-learning aggregator portal offers online skill training on a variety of sectors and modules which included IT, Electronics, Retail, Construction, Automotive, Plumbing, Healthcare, Media, Telecom etc. eSkill India has been instrumental in aggregating digital skilling avenues from the leaders in the field of digital skilling. Almost 17 lakh minutes of e-Content is aggregated and most of the e-courses are free. The enrollment for various e-courses is around 7.5 lakh.This information was given by the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Raj Kumar Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.