Low salaries, courses cut short, few jobs: The dashed hopes of Skill India programme graduates

Payal Ratan, 32, had enrolled for a six-month stitching course under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana in the summer of 2022. She still has the register she used for notes and diagrams of stylised outfits such as frocks, gowns and others. The Kaushal Kendra, or training centre, was a few blocks from her residence in Varanasi’s Bhagwanpur colony.

She paid Rs 150 as fee for the form, and would pay for the dress material they used in the course, she said. “At the time of enrollment, we were told that a sewing machine along with stipend would be given after the completion of course,” Ratan recalled. Her hopes were crushed after the course came to an abrupt halt in just two months. “We were told that the centre will be shutting down soon. One day when we visited the Kaushal Kendra, it was locked and the landlord told us the owner, also the coordinators of the training programme, may or may not return,” Ratan told IndiaSpend.

During the two months of classes, Ratan had learnt how to make a kaaj-button (button hole), cutting, tailoring and finishing handkerchiefs, flared skirts, baby frocks and women’s shirts. Holding a piece of blue satin she had cut for making a frock, she says she was disappointed with her experience. “When all this was wrapped up, I had to sit at home. Kuch bhi nahi kiye (I couldn’t do anything).”

Our reporting in Varanasi found many stories similar to Ratan’s – courses shorter than advertised, no certificate or job post the training, low salaries and a mismatch between jobs and skills learnt. With the government announcing the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 in the 2023-’24 budget, and a new skilling programme and loans for skilling in the post-election budget last month, we take a look at the problems in the previous versions of the programme, and the challenges for the newest version.

Billed as the country’s largest skill certification scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana was launched on July 15, 2015 with an outlay of Rs 12,000 crore. An initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the objective of the scheme was to enable Indian youth “to take up outcome based skill training, become employable and earn livelihood”. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana was among the four flagship schemes being run by the Union government, under the ambit of its Skill India Mission, which comprises imparting skills to youngsters through Short Term Training courses.

The original goal of the programme was to skill 10 million youth. The programme has had three phases, and a fourth was announced in the 2023-’24 budget. During her speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the programme would “skill lakhs of youth within the next three years" along with an apprenticeship promotion scheme providing “stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years”. In the budget for 2024-’25, she said the government had proposed Rs 2 lakh crore over the next five years as part of the Prime Minister’s package for employment and skilling of 41 million youth.

For Ratan, the government’s goals had little meaning. Because the course stopped abruptly, she received no certificate and could not use the course to get a job. She said she tried to get together a group of students to file a complaint but most were reluctant to do so. “I was under the impression that after the completion of course, we should be able to avail loan facility and I could open a shop of my own. I was planning to buy a double machine [a reference to two sewing machines]”, said Ratan, a housewife with two school-going kids, who was banking on this course to improve her family’s prospects.

The centre had not paid its employees’ salaries, and were short of funds to function, one of the teachers who had taught at the centre told IndiaSpend. The coordinator of this Kaushal Kendra, Priti Mishra, could not be contacted for a response. This reporter reached out to Ajay Maurya, the landlord of the building where the training centre was, but he refused to comment on why the centre shut abruptly.

We emailed questions to Atul Kumar Tiwari, secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, on the problems in the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana programme, and to the official email address of the National Skill Development Council, a public-private partnership under the ministry for private sector skilling initiatives. We will update this story when we receive a response.

Faulty scheme design

In Uttar Pradesh, in two years to 2022-’23, the number of candidates trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana fell 89%, the government told Parliament in December 2023. This corresponds to a similar fall across the country.

According to government data, as on December 31, 2022, there were 140 accredited and affiliated training centres (Kaushal Kendra) of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana in Uttar Pradesh. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship says it has “set up a District Skill Committee for decentralisation of planning and monitoring of skill development programmes”.

When asked about the case of the centre where Ratan had enrolled, and of experiences of other job seekers at the skilling centre, Abhishek Singh, coordinator at the District Project Management Unit in Varanasi, told this reporter, “PMKVY is a central component (among skill-related schemes) and only NSDC can give a response in this matter.” A questionnaire was sent to the official email address of the National Skill Development Corporation. We will update the story when we receive a response.

Singh also said, “Any training centre under the skill development programme is a temporary one since the agreement between the programme coordinator and owner of the building is for a period of 11 months and most of these courses are for a duration of three to six months.”

In UP, as on December 9, 2023, when data was last updated on the scheme dashboard, official statistics show that out of 1.99 million candidates enrolled under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, 1.92 million (or 96.4%) candidates had been trained. These figures compiled since 2016 after the inception of the scheme included three phases of the scheme – 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

This is similar to the all-India rate of 96.2% – 13.72 million trained candidates out of 14.27 million enrolled candidates.

But job placements have been low. In September 2022, the parliamentary standing committee on labour, textiles and skill development noted that while the placement rate under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 2.0 was 23%, it was just 8% under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0.

Economists familiar with tracking employment data are critical of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, which they say is focused on churning out certified professionals, irrespective of whether there is demand for those skills or not.

“A demand-driven programme is one where the employer industry articulates the kind of people needed, with what skill and their level of competency, and in that sense PMKVY requires a structural change,” said Santosh Mehrotra, visiting professor, Centre for Development Studies at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. “A successful government programme which is financed by the government itself is demand-driven anywhere in the world. Initiated by the Ministry of Skill Development, which means being a government-driven and financed scheme, this is a supply-driven programme and that’s the foundational problem with PMKVY.”

The structural issue with such skilling initiatives is also linked with India’s education system that’s largely detached from vocational studies. In his 2019 book, Jobonomics, author and journalist Goutam Das, wrote, “It is easy to see why India’s supply isn’t ready for the future of work. Poorly prepared primary and secondary school teachers; underprepared children; outdated curriculum in vocational schools; commercialisation of higher educational institutes and those that churn out graduates unfit to be hired render labour supply largely incompetent.”

Skills and job mismatch

Not just under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, but skilling programmes in general have not been able to ensure jobs post training. Anil Kumar, 44, another resident of Bhagwanpur, continues to be a member of the WhatsApp group of air conditioner technicians he had met at a training programme in 2021.

It was a 10-month programme run by Samsung Technical School in collaboration with the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises in Varanasi. This was part of the company’s support to the government’s Skill India initiative. Kumar was trained to repair room air conditioners and home appliances with National Skill Qualification Framework – NSQF) Level-5 – certification, which means that he had “a range of cognitive and practical skills required to accomplish tasks and solve problems by selecting and applying basic methods, tools”. Though the certificate says the programme ran over 10 months from January-October 2021, Kumar said classes ran over a period of four months.

“Only one or two persons from my batch began getting work on a regular basis; remaining were left empty-handed”, said Kumar. Today, he works as a volunteer at a local nonprofit in Varanasi. “Kaushal Vikas (skill development) is only in name, there aren’t real jobs.”

The custodian and in-charge of the Samsung Technical Institute in Varanasi, Himanshu Shekhar, when asked about the track record of placement said that “the centre is able to ensure placement of 80%-85% of candidates”. “Monthly salary of Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 might be for freshers but I can also tell you that there are candidates who, after gaining experience, are also earning Rs 18,000-Rs 20,000 per month for the work of AC maintenance.”

A detailed questionnaire related to recruitment and training of candidates for the RACHA-related courses has been emailed to Samsung Technical Institute. This story will be updated when we receive a response.

Economist and former visiting professor at the Department of Economics at Ashoka University, Gurbachan Singh explained that the government has to meaningfully pave the way for private players to step in on a much larger scale, because the government itself is "unable to provide that level of quality training".

Speaking on the role of private players in the skilling programme, Mehrotra said, “Such short term courses are a waste of time and government’s money. Such VTPs (Vocational Training Providers) should be converted into RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) providing institutions.

“So instead of providing quarter training to half-educated youngsters, those already in the informal sector first need to be able to afford an opportunity to upgrade themselves.” Mehrotra suggested bridge courses, and skill upgradation in communication and computing.

In December 2023, Kumar attended a Rozgar Mela (job fair) organised by Varanasi’s local administration. Such congregations were also part of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana for potential employers, Kaushal Kendras coordinators and certified professionals to meet at a common platform. In Kumar’s case, interactions with private sector representatives at the Rozgar Melas added to his frustration.

“While one company wanted me to collect donations from tax payers, another firm wanted me to convince poor kids to join BCA [Bachelor for Computer Applications] and other professional courses. What kinds of jobs are these?” asked Kumar, while putting back the two offer letters in his brown folder dedicated to his documents related to employment.

The companies which had interviewed Kumar were Bengaluru-based NETAPS Foundation and Delhi-based Narendra Educational and Welfare Trust. The offer letter by Narendra Educational Trust didn’t specify the salary for the position of social activist, and said that the minimum qualification was “intermediate”, meaning a graduate of Class 12. “I was assured a salary of Rs 20,000 and based on donations that I would bring in for the trust, they assured me of 20% commission,” Kumar said. He turned the job down, as did not feel he was qualified to network with, and solicit donations from wealthy individuals. He said he had applied expecting an office job, based in Varanasi.

The second appointment-cum-offer letter issued to Kumar on behalf of NETAPS Foundation, while promising a monthly salary of Rs 20,000, specified the role as “candidate recruitment, counselling, convincing candidates for admission into apprenticeship and stipend-based technical and professional courses”. We have reached out to Bengaluru-based NETAPS Foundation, and will update the story when we receive a response.

Speaking to IndiaSpend, Varanasi-based lawyer, Narendra Pratap Singh, whose trust had participated in the 2023 Rozgar Mela said, “We had given offer letters to around 250 candidates, only five joined later. We needed people who could work at the grassroots level and the skills they acquire [as part of PMKVY] are not really needed in the social sector that I’m part of.”

The India Skills Report 2021, by online skill assessment venture Wheelbox in association with the All India Council for Technical Education, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Association of Indian Universities, states that nearly half of India’s graduates are unemployable. A report by a civil society platform, Bahutva Karnataka says, on the basis of the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey 2022-’23 that 42% of the graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed.

Economist Arun Kumar, retired professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, while talking about systemic issues with skill training programmes, such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, told IndiaSpend that the organised sector is unable to absorb the youngsters completing short-term training certificate courses. This is because, he explains, “If you are teaching skills like sewing, carpentry or plumbing, for which demand is inadequate, then these children are not going to get much out of it. The skilling programme requires good quality education along with creating demand by pumping up the purchasing power of people.”

Other instances of irregularities

Manju Kumari, who was formerly employed at a Kaushal Kendra in Bhagwanpur, said she did not receive her full salary at the centre.

Fifty-two-year-old Manju Kumari was employed at the same Kaushal Kendra in Bhagwanpur, where Ratan had enrolled for a sewing course. She joined in September 2017, two years after the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

“I wish the experience related to working at Kaushal Kendra can just vanish away from my memory,” she said. Hired at a monthly salary of Rs 5,000, Kumari said that she left the job within six months, after her salary was held up for two months.

“I wanted a regular salary since I had lost my husband and had three daughters to look after. I had even warned them [in-charge of Kaushal Kendra] of filing an FIR,” she said, adding that she later decided to not file one. Kumari did not have any document from the centre – a joining letter or a salary slip – that could have helped her in a future job.

She remained unemployed between March 2018 and 2020, and then got a job as a telecaller with a private firm in Varanasi, earning Rs 5,000, where she worked until February 2024. She is currently looking for another job.

Fourth edition of programme

On February 1, 2023, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 to skill hundreds of thousands of youth within the next three years. “The scheme will emphasise on on-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of industry”, a press release from the government said, adding that it will “also cover new age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills”.

“The moment you go to AI [artificial intelligence], robotics, etc., then it is bordering on education rather than skills, which again is getting away from the idea of vocational training,” said economist Singh. “The issue here is more about ensuring quality at government institutions that provide skills rather than what kind, whether it is AI or plumbing.”

Having lost his father in his childhood with the needs to earn a living, Pramod Patel had joined a Kaushal Kendra in Varanasi’s Vindhya Vasini Nagar colony. He spent nearly a year between 2016-’17 attending classes for a job as a customer care executive, run by Orion Edutech Private Limited. The company was later included among Varanasi’s Skill Hubs, entrusted with vocational training as part of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

“We were trained how to handle queries and respond to customers with garam dimag [hot temper] in the telecom sector, particularly issues related to network connectivity and SIM card,” said Patel. Over a year after he completed the course, some of the students received offers from a private firm in Delhi, at a monthly salary of Rs 7,000, he said. “I turned down the offer. It wouldn’t have been possible to sustain myself at this salary in a city like Delhi.”

Pramod Patel had joined a customer care executive course at a Kaushal Kendra in Varanasi, but was unable to find a good job after completing the course. Patel has a certificate from the National Skill Development Corporation, but it is just a piece of paper for the 27-year-old, who works as a volunteer with a nonprofit since 2021, at a salary of Rs 14,000 a month.

A questionnaire about the placement rate and number of offer letters issued annually to candidates at the training centre was sent to the official email ID of Orion Edutech Private Limited. This reporter also tried contacting Somnath Acharya, Vice President at Orion Edutech, but multiple calls went unanswered. We will update this story when we receive a response.

“If this was supposed to be a self-employment initiative then that should’ve been specified clearly, and even in that scenario, arrangements should be there for financial assistance in the form of low interest loans,” Patel said. “One cannot be successful by just doing this,” added Patel, who said he is now aiming for a “government job”.

This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.