NEW DELHI, 19 OCTOBER: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, launched 511 Pramod Mahajan Grameen Kaushalya Vikas Kendras in Maharashtra noting that the demand for trained Indian skilled workers has been increasing all over the world.

”There are many countries in the world where the population of senior citizens has increased manifold and these countries are finding it very difficult to find skilled youth…skilled youth from India can fill that vacuum,” he said while speaking through video conferencing.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were among those present at the function.

Mr Modi noted that according to surveys, there were 16 countries which were facing an acute shortage of skilled manpower. These countries needed some 40 lakh skilled professionals in the hospitality, healthcare, tourism, hospitality, education and transport sectors.

These skill development centres, named after late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, are being established across 34 rural districts of Maharashtra. These centres will conduct skill development training programmes across various sectors to provide employment opportunities to rural youth.

“Each kendra will train about 100 youngsters in at least two vocational courses. The training is being provided by empanelled industry partners and agencies under the National Skill Development Council,” the PMO said. The establishment of these centres will help the region attain significant strides towards developing more competent and skilled manpower.

“So far, there has been no skill development centre in 28 thousand gram panchayats of Maharashtra. Skill development is a very important subject of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Accordingly, according to the concept of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided to start a skill development centre in 500 (odd) gram panchayats,” Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Minister of Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Maharashtra, said.

He said these skill development centres would help prevent the youth from migrating from villages to cities for employment, adding that the number of such centres will be increased in the future.