-The Indian Express The SECC has identified a total of 1.82 lakh households where at least one person is employed in manual scavenging in rural India, numbers which have been dismissed as gross underestimate by organisations working in the area. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has issued orders to all states to use the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) so as to identify persons working as manual scavengers, persons with disabilities,...

-The Indian Express Various changes have been introduced in the execution of the government's skilling programme to generate more jobs, but to no avail. An average of just over one out of six people trained under the scheme have found a job. The government’s flagship skilling scheme — Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) — continues to grapple with the issue of achieving end-results, despite fresh attempts to redirect its focus to...

-The Hindu Business Line Patna is attracting the young from the hinterland to its skilling centres, teaching them English and computer skills At first glance they look like cyber cafés with their bustling young boys and girls. But take a closer look and you will find students busy at their computers picking up English language and software skills. These small centres have popped up across the State Capital in shopping areas and residential...

-The Hindu It is crucial to align policy across sectors and upgrade the country’s social infrastructure In India’s highly segmented labour market, one can still discern at least three demographic groups that are in urgent need of jobs: a growing number of better educated youth; uneducated agricultural workers who wish to leave agricultural distress behind; and young women, who too are better educated than ever before. India is indeed the fastest growing large economy...

-The Indian Express With the scheme floundering, the Centre is now planning to shift focus to district-level schemes to yield better results in the short-term for its skilling initiative. The government’s flagship skilling scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), is struggling to achieve end-results. Data for the PMKVY scheme until the first week of July 2017 reveals that out of a total 30.67 lakh candidates who had been trained or...