Budget 2013: Govt gives job-seekers a licence to skill

NEW DELHI: On Wednesday, the Economic Survey acknowledged that the central question facing India was: where will the jobs come from? On Thursday, the Budget tried to answer that question: through skill training.
“My Budget for 2013-14 has before it one overarching goal: to create opportunities for our youth to acquire education and skills that will get them decent jobs or self-employment that will bring them adequate incomes that will enable them to live with their families in a safe and secure environment,” said P Chidambaram.
The second of the three promises Chidambaram made to the “three faces of India” on behalf of the PM and the UPA was to its youth (the other two being women and the poor). Chidambaram said he proposed to ask the National Skill Development Corporation to set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills, and any institution would then be allowed to offer a training course. When a young person completed her training, she would have to take a test, get a certificate and a reward of Rs 10,000, Chidambaram said.
The Budget also extended the scope of the labour ministry’s cashless health insurance scheme, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Originally started only for BPL families, the RSBY has now enrolled over 3 crore families across the country. Chidambaram further extended the scheme to rickshaw-drivers, auto-drivers, taxi-drivers, ragpickers and mine-workers.
The minister proposed that social security benefit schemes for the unorganized sector be integrated into one comprehensive package that would include life and health insurance, maternity assistance and pension benefits.
Union Budget 2013
Budget news 2013
Economic Survey