1 Lakh Indian Care Workers to be Deployed Globally Annually

New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) About one lakh Indian care workers will be deployed in various countries globally annually after two years to support ageing populations in several nations, National Skill Development Corporation CEO Ved Mani Tiwari said on Thursday.

Refusing to be drawn into the debate regarding unemployment in India, he said one will have to go by the official estimates pegging it at 6.5 per cent, adding that even in the US about 4.5 per cent people are unemployed.

India's unemployment rate in urban areas for persons aged 15 years and above decreased during October-December 2023 to 6.5 per cent from 7.2 per cent in the year-ago period, as per government data released a year ago by the NSSO, which launched the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

"We will have to go by the numbers the government has come out and they say, what is the unemployment for cities in India, 6.5 per cent, so, and if you compare, yeah, perhaps even the US has 4.5 per cent unemployed," Tiwari said in response to a question.

The unemployment rate further dipped to 6.4 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2024, according to the NSSO released last November.

He shared that 20,000 construction workers have gone to Israel from India in the last one year itself, adding that there is a demand from the nation for 5,000 care workers.

"We believe that close to a lakh care workers will start getting deployed (annually) in various parts of the world in about two years," the NSDC CEO shared.

Describing it as an outcome of India's soft diplomacy, he said, "Our care workers will be providing care and support to aging populations across the world."

He said skill assessment centres have been set up for 100 trades across the country.

"So effectively, anybody who believes that the person in the job is ready to go to Israel or Japan or Germany, they can simply present themselves to these assessment centres... we can provide a list of these assessment centres where their skills will be assessed and certified, and this is that they can apply for work visa also," Tiwari said.

He further said that 94 lakh people out of the 4 crore trained by NSDC till now secured employment within three months.

Besides, the NSDC announced a significant expansion in its skilling footprint across India with plans to set up 50 new future skills centres and 10 NSDC international academies to advance skill development and training programmes.

During his address at the annual press conference, Ved Mani Tiwari, CEO, NSDC and MD, NSDC International, shared his roadmap to skill and upskill the Indian youth for domestic and global job markets.

"The number of industry-aligned programmes will increase beyond 300, covering 12 major emerging technologies. The goal is to train over 2 lakh candidates and establish over 2.70 lakh sq ft of training infrastructure, further strengthening employability and workforce readiness".

"There are plans to on-board 1 million students, establish MoUs with leading OEMs, bring in training partners, select industry-specific tools, design career progression pathways, implement joint certification with NSDC and OEMs, and introduce new industry verticals in a phased manner," he added.