The Prime Minister has recently announced a scheme for setting up a skill-development mission. There is a huge need to impart skills to people first of all and then create jobs for all 7 million people. We have to train people in skills like electrician, household mason, bakery and beautician among others. In order to provide these skills, develop the employment capability among the people, and thus launched a new programme; incubation of unemployed persons of new small enterprises.

The aim of the government is also to increase the General Enrolment Ratio (GER) by 5 per cent with the removal of regional, social and gender disparities. Education including technical education, medical and university, vocational and technical training of labor are on the concurrent list of the Constitution of India. The Central as well as the State Governments need to work towards making India even a global education hub. The micro and small enterprises produce about 8,000 products, contribute 40 per cent of the industrial output and offer the largest employment after agriculture. The challenge before us is to ensure that each and every citizen of India is an asset.

The incubation programme is a pilot project that NSIC started in which it trains unemployed persons, who do not have high qualifications; the minimum requirement is only high school-from any place, city, villages and small towns. People are segregated into those who want skills for employment and, those who want to set up their business. This incubator was started in Delhi and NSIC has now incubation centers in Howrah and Guwahati, Rajkot, Chennai, other technical centers also and the purpose of which is to run a programme of three to six months duration whereby a person is made fully employable. This pool of human resource could be used to the economic advantage of the Indian economy, only if education and skill development is given the due importance in the planning process.

Government proposes to set up 30 central universities. The aim of the Government is also to take of infrastructure shortages and faculty shortages that hamper education at present. The Government also aims to provide laptops to students so that they can benefit from the telecommunication revolution. Apart from this, the Government wishes to network each department of about 400 university level insti¬tutions and 20,000 colleges through broadband connectivity and make available suitable e-learning material. The government hopes to rapidly expand higher education institutions with inclusiveness while implementing 27 per cent reservation, along with removal of regional, social and gender disparities in education with a view to having a fully educated, modem and progressive nation. Some of the interventions proposed for inclusive education include a rise in UGC support to institutions located in border, hilly, remote, small towns and educationally backward areas; more support to institutions with large percentage of student population of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), girls and minorities, apart from OBCs; providing assistance to create hostel facilities as well as coaching to SCs, STs and minorities, coaching for admission to professional courses and competitive examinations for central services. The Government has to accelerate the level of progress for the country and expand the knowledge base.