Skill development to be core of all government schemes, says Piyush Goyal

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said skill development will be the core of all government schemes. As the government pumps in more resources in the many industrial, textile, and automobile parks, each such park should include a relevant skill development institution, he said.

Addressing a Webinar on “Sabka Prayas: Collective Partnership” on Thursday, Goyal said the New Education Policy (NEP) being implemented across the country now too lays stress on skill development.

It envisages dual degree programmes, tie-ups with foreign universities, student exchange programmes, and the promotion of liberal arts besides academics.

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“The NEP involved extensive consultations since Jan 2015, involving more than 2 lakh suggestions from 2.5 lakh Panchayats and proposals from around 700 districts. The NEP has not been criticised by anyone, it was made as a result of Sabka Prayas,” he said.

Goyal said the government is also working towards raising the quality of higher education by envisaging tie-ups with foreign universities during trade talks with other nations.

“In the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) talks being negotiated with many countries such as the UK, Australia or Canada, we are trying to include Education as a key sector of cooperation and incorporate tie-ups among Universities keeping NEP as the basis and aiming to reduce fees,” he said.

“With ‘Sabka Prayas’ (Collective Partnership) as the driving force and good governance as the guiding principle of the various welfare schemes of the government, we will be able to reach out to the most marginalised sections of the society. Good governance implies making the country honest, ushering honesty into our institutions and making them transparent.

‘Sabka Saath’ and ‘Sabka Vikas’ is the idea behind our government’s schemes, that has earned us ‘Sabka Vishwas’, and today the whole country is united on the path of ‘Sabka Prayas’ to improve the nation’s destiny and bring prosperity to India, its entire population of 135 crore people,” he said.

He also mentioned that NEP will lay the foundation of the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission. India’s stature will rise among the comity of nations with the implementation of landmark schemes such as Jandhan, Ujjwala, promoting LED bulbs, Ayushman Bharat, DBT, JAM Trinity, One Nation, One Ration Card and PMGKAY through Good Governance as the benchmark.