Skill Development to boost COVID-19 initiatives

The Government of India has been driving efforts in skill development and entrepreneurship as part of a broader initiative to strengthen the fight against Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19). India has already announced an Rs.1.7 trillion (US$22.5 billion) relief package to help the most vulnerable sections of the society fight the impact of the disease. This is in addition to a number of steps taken to support the trade and investment community. The Coronavirus pandemic is now expected to cost the global economy much more than US$1 trillion in 2020. With a cure believed to be 12-18 months away, the disease has infected nearly 2 million people in over 180 countries, claiming more than 120,000 lives between December 2019 and mid-April 2020. 

Here the measures are taken by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to tackle the crisis:

1. MSDE has sent contact details (mobile numbers and email addresses) of 175,000 health sector professionals located in different states to all Chief Secretaries. These professionals, trained under the MSDE Skill ecosystem, are Health workers, Emergency Medical Technicians, General Duty Assistants, Phlebotomy Technicians, Home Health Aid Technicians, etc. Their services could be utilised by States for isolation and quarantine duties under COVID-19. 

1. The MSDE has asked all Chief Secretaries to utilise facilities of 33 field Institutes like National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs) for the purpose of Quarantine Centres and Temporary Medical Camps, etc. States were also advised to utilise the facilities of the local Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) for the purpose. There is a total of 15,697 ITIs, with 3,055 in the Government Sector and 12,642 in the Private Sector. More than six states have started utilizing these resources.

1. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, instructions were issued by MSDE to Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) for the production of masks. So far, 101 JSSs spread across 99 districts in 17 States have produced about 500,000 masks for their respective district administrations. MSDE had sent a list of 64 ITIs and 18 NSTIs whose services could be utilised for the production of masks to all chief secretaries. Currently, 18 ITI and 2 NSTIs are already engaged in producing masks.

1. Other support services rendered by NSTIs are as under:
   1. NSTI, Ludhiana has built an Aero Blaster Machine for sanitizing the city
   2. Dr. Ambedkar Memorial ITI, Pune, has built six “Corona Disinfection Chamber”
   3. ITI, Jehanabad, Bihar has built a “Public tunnel sanitiser machine”

These initiatives, among others, are key to driving self-reliance when it comes to resources for effectively tackling the disease. India, with a population of over 1.3 billion, has so far reported more than 10,500 cases and over 350 deaths from the disease. The Government has implemented a nation-wide lockdown from March 25 to contain the spread of the disease.