New Delhi: The Union Budget 2017-18 has proposed many initiatives in the various areas of the skill landscape: Job creation, skill development and improving quality of higher education. HR fraternity and Learning & Development (L&D) practitioners have given a thumbs-up to the Budget.

Commenting on the Union Budget, Ms Achal Khanna, CEO, SHRM India said,”The budget for financial year 2017-18 is progressive as it touches every crucial segment of our economy, ranging from agriculture, affordable housing, and creating employment opportunities to public service, financial sector and tax administration. We believe that the proposal to allocate Rs 4,000 crore to launch Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion programme (SANKALP) for training 3.5 crore youth is a major step. This will help our youth acquire the right skill sets and make them job ready.”

“A host of other key initiatives like establishing 100 India International Skill Centres, special scheme for creating employment in leather & footwear sector, and launch of next phase of Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) will also go a long way in building confidence among the youth of the country,” she added.

Mr Milind Kher, Mumbai based training consultant on Emotional Intelligence and NLP, said the provision of innovative and transparent measurement of Annual Learning Outcome at the schools will generate desirable results. He added that the government’s proposal to extend the number of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras from current 60 to cover more than 600 districts across the country will address the talent shortage scenario in the current labour market.