India, Italy sign skill development pact

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8 approved an agreement between India and Italy for cooperation in the fields of labour and employment. The partnership will support capacity building and skill development to improve quality of training and employability of Indian as well as Italian workers. The agreement is critical as India’s youth-heavy population of 1.3 billion is the future of global workforce, while Italy’s is a strong hub of manufacturing and engineering activities.

The scope of the programme includes

1. Joint programmes on training methodologies and techniques
2. Development of training modules for different social partners
3. Customized training programmers on labour and employment
4. Evaluation of new training methodologies and their outcomes
5. Exchange of best practices and trainers in skill development

The India-Italy joint exercise will better prepare workforce for future disruptions in employment. The deal will expand its outreach in the Asia Pacific region that has surplus of high-quality and high-margin workforce. India is touted to become the world’s youngest country by 2020 with an average age of 29 years. This brings forward exciting opportunities for skill development and strategic investments in India as the nation steps up to resolve the global shortage of quality workforce across a variety of sectors.

Herein, the Government has struck a number of critical partnerships with foreign and private entities to augment India’s rich human resource base. For instance, the V.V Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI), an autonomous body India’s Ministry of Labour and Employment and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO), Turin, had signed an agreement in 2012 to empower workforce. Additional, the ‘Skill India’ initiative looking to train more than 400 million people by 2022.