Over 1.04 crore youth trained under 'Skill India' mission: Minister

New Delhi, May 31: Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Tuesday said more than 1.04 crore youth were trained under the 'Skill India' mission during the last fiscal.

"More than 1.04 crore youth were trained under the 'Skill India' mission in 2015-16, which is 36.8 per cent higher than the previous year," he told reporters here.

Sixty percent of such training is directly under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) while the remaining are spread across other ministries.

Rudy said under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), launched on July 15 last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 20 lakh people were imparted various skills.

Out of these, 40 per cent are women being trained in their choice of skills, he added.

Highlighting other achievements of his ministry in the last two years, he said the number of ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) in the country had increased to 13,105 in May 2016 from 10,750 in May 2014.

This figure will further go up to 18,000 by September, Rudy added.

He said the ministry was working towards setting up one model skill centre in each of the over 500 districts in the country.

"These will be operational in more than 500 districts by March 2017," he said.

IANS