World Youth Skills Day: PM Modi Encourages Youth to 'Skill, re-skill, upskill.'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today delivered an address on the occasion of the World Youth Skills Day. A digital conclave is also organised by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to mark the occasion.

Addressing a digital conclave on this World Youth Skills Day, PM Modi presented a new mantra for the youth to enable them to be pertinent in the time of crisis and empower them.

PM Modi said, "This day is dedicated to your skills. The millennial youth's biggest strength is acquiring new skills."

"Covid-19 has changed the nature of jobs, and then there is a new technology which has impacted our lives too. Our youth have to adopt new skills," he further added.

Then the prime minister said that it is essential to stay pertinent in the current time so that people can earn not only their livelihoods but also help others. "The mantra to stay relevant is: Skill, re-skill and upskill."

He explained the idea further. "Skill is something that you learn - like building a chair from a piece of wood. You increased the value of the wood by doing some value addition, and to stay relevant, you need to keep adding stuff to it. But it is important to expand our skill further. This is known as upskill." He said not only the youth, but anyone can walk the path - learn new things and work on enhancing their skills. "This will help make us self-reliant," he said.

This year's event main focus was on the importance of developing skilled youth.

On this day, five years ago, the Skill India Mission was launched. Skill India is a central government initiative which was launched to empower the youth with skill sets which generate more employments and make them more productive in their work environment.

The skill India mission offers courses across different sectors which are associated with the standards recognised by both the industry and government under the National Skill Qualification Framework.