The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has recently launched Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) 2021-23 in partnership with nine IIMs. The application process for the two-year government-funded programme will begin on February 15 and will conclude on March 27. During the course, fellows will be given a stipend of Rs 50,000 per month for the first year and Rs 60,000 per month for the second year of the course.

The fellowship is rolled out under the World Bank loan assisted programme SANKALP (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion). Fellows after getting training from IIMs will further strengthen the district skill administration and the District Skill Committees (DSCs) under the fellowship.

The fellows under MGNF will acquire academic expertise and technical competency in understanding the overall skill ecosystem along with being attached to DSCs and help them manage the skill development planning at district level through the mechanism of formulating District Skill Development Plans (DSDPs).

MGNF in its pilot project had trained 69 fellows working across 69 districts. The ministry is now expanding MGNF to all remaining districts in the country. The nine IIMs involved in training fellows include- IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM-Udaipur, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi and IIM-Jammu.

Additionally, MSDE has also partnered with the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) to conduct capacity building programmes for District officials from the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep. “KILA is entrusted with designing and delivering the training program on different thematic areas which are aimed at enhancing and building the capacities of the district officials, for effective planning of skill development programs. KILA will organise the training and associated logistics for the training programs and also develop or customize content based on local requirements and training need assessment in the respective state/s,” the official statement said.

SANKALP programme will also support in Training of Trainer (ToT) system in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode that a collaborative approach between industry and the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) ecosystem.

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said, “The last six years of Skill India have extensively focused on capacity building and creating infrastructure support for vocational training across the country. Our partnerships going forward will be more focused on strengthening the overall quality of skill training. With the recent launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0 and today’s academic partnerships with IIMs, IITs, GIZ-IGVET, KILA under our SANKALP scheme, together we will empower the districts ensuring demand-driven skilling. I am confident that these programs will boost our efforts to bring in a transformational change and impact to our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of building an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

The event also witnessed the launch of “Skill training on Gender Sensitisation and Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) at the workplace” in partnership with Management and Entrepreneurship and Professional Skill Council (MEPSC) as the Implementation Agency for the project. The six-month project will be implemented in 15 districts across 3 states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab to train 1800 trainees and 240 training professionals.