Union Budget 2023: Focus On Youth Empowerment; Know What It Offers

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday proposed a slew of measures in the Union Budget 2023 to provide the much-needed boost to youth empowerment in the country.

In her budget speech in Parliament, she said Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth in the next three years. Youth power happens to be one of the seven priorities in the budget ‘Saptarishi.’

On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be emphasised.

The scheme also seeks to cover new-age courses for industry 4.0 such as coding, AI, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones and soft skills.

The government, which has already formulated the National Education Policy (NEP), focussed on upskilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate job creation at scale, and supported business opportunities to empower the youth of the country and help the ‘Amrit Peedhi’ realise their dreams.

According to experts, the focus on skill development of potential youth talent through initiatives like NEP, PMKVY 4.0 for skilling in niche new-age technologies gives further impetus to the ongoing efforts.

The announcement of PMKVY 4.0 to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years in alignment with the needs for industry 4.0 is highly appreciable as it will lead to the enhancement of employability. As IT sector has the potential to generate more jobs, skills in AI, coding, mechatronics, drones, 3d printing and more would be the focus, they said.

Further, 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different states to skill youth for international opportunities.

A focus on youth power as one of the key priorities and the intention to set up International Skill India centers has been described a welcome initiative.

The Finance Minister has also stated that the digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded with the launch of a unified Skill India Digital platform for enabling demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers including MSMEs, and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes.

She said Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme will be rolled out to provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years.