Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has heavily criticized the Union government’s Skill India Mission, claiming it has not fulfilled its promises. In a social media post, Kharge stated that despite being launched in 2015 with the ambitious goal of training 400 million people by 2022, the mission has only managed to train a meager 3.5% as of December 2023.
Kharge further alleged that a significant portion of those trained, around 83%, remain unemployed, and 20% dropped out of the program entirely. He also highlighted a 94% reduction in Skill Training Centers since 2015, raising concerns about the program’s accessibility. Kharge concluded his post by accusing the Union government of lacking the necessary skills to address the issue, claiming their actions are “perishing the future of our youth.”
Earlier, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the interim budget for 2024-25, stated that the Skill India Mission had trained 14 million youth, upskilled and reskilled 5.4 million youth.
On February 15, during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bihar’s Aurangabad, Kharge criticized the ruling BJP, alleging that it had not provided the promised number of jobs and that the country’s debt situation had worsened under its regime. He questioned the whereabouts of the promised two crore jobs, the Rs 15 lakh that Prime Minister Modi had promised, and highlighted the increase in the country’s debt from Rs 55 lakh crores during the UPA era to Rs 185 lakh crores in the Modi era.