Unemployment rate rises to 23.4% in May
PMKVY has helped only a meagre 41 pc of total youth
Even as the unemployment rate in the country has shot up to 23.4 per cent in May 2020 from 8.7 per cent in March 2020, accelerated by the ongoing lockdown perpetuated by the Covid-19, the Centre’s much touted and much needed Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme has managed to provide work only to a meagre 41 per cent of the total youth skilled under it since its inception in 2016.
The poor performance of the much hyped scheme also punches holes in the Centre’s prospective plan of reskilling lakhs of guest workers associated with the informal sector, once the lockdown is lifted.
According to information available with this newspaper, PMKVY was supposed to provide training and placement to 60 lakh youths between 2016 and 2020. However till January
17, 2020, out of the 40 lakh trained youths, it has managed to provide placement or work only to 16.6 lakh youths or 41 per cent candidates.
Unfortunately in the last four years (i.e. between 2016-17 and
2019-20), important states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand — from where the majority of guest workers belong, have performed below par in terms of providing employment to skilled youth.
While the overall performance of the scheme in terms of providing placement is poor, the most striking aspect is that almost all the states have performed badly which has resulted in the overall below par placement percentage of the scheme.