The Centre on Wednesday formally launched the Skill India Digital app, which brings together listings for upskilling courses and job listings. The app had been soft launched in April, and was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Budget session of Parliament in February.
The app will be linked with DigiLocker and Aadhaar to issue verifiable certificates of course completion and to generate digitally signed CVs for job applicants and people taking courses.
Skill India Digital is linked to the Udyam portal for registration of micro, small and medium enterprises, the eShram portal, created to build a National Database of Unorganized Workers, the National Career Service, a five year project launched by the Government in 2015 for job-seekers, and the ASEEM job directory.
“When we talk about digital skills, there are two components to this discourse: one is skills for the digital domain, … and the other question is how do you skill digitally,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & Information Technology said.
The app would help in both distributing courses on skills and using digital matchmaking to bring potential employers and employees together, Mr. Chandrasekhar said.
The app was developed by the National Skill Development Corporation.
“I daresay [Skill India Digital] can also become the ONDC of skilling,” Atul Kumar Tiwari, the Union Secretary for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, in a reference to the Open Network for Digital Commerce, a government-backed network that is being pushed as an interoperable e-commerce network that could push against large platforms in e-retail and food delivery, among others.
Mr. Chandrasekhar endorsed the comparison. Skill India Digital is “the marketplace, the platform where all those who are interested — commercial or non-commercial stakeholders — can come together, plug in, deliver skills, gain skills, look for employment, and offer employment,” Mr. Chandrasekhar said. “And so this is certainly in its first version a powerful idea and platform.”
