Union Budget 2023: Govt to train lakhs of youth in AI, drones, coding in the next 3 years

More than 448 million of India's digital population consumes internet on their mobile phones. Rural penetration remains considerably low compared to urban communities. However, the gap seems to be only decreasing as socio-economic conditions of such communities improve.

While giving her Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that lakhs of youngsters will be trained in the next three years in subjects such as drones, artificial intelligence, coding and other soft skills under the Pradhan Mantri Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0.

Sitharaman said, "Pradhan Mantri Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next 3 years. On job training, industry partnership and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be emphasised. The scheme will new age courses for industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronix, 3D printing, internet of things, drones and other soft skills."

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is a scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) implemented by National Skill Development Corporation.

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The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youngsters to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood, the PMKVY website said.

The drone industry has been demanding for help in regards to drone pilot training and developing other associated skills.

"It is great to see drones finding a mention in regards to skill development in the recently announced budget. As the drone industry scales up, availability of skilled personnel will be a very important challenge to be solved," Smit Shah, president of Drone Federation of India told Moneycontrol.

Ankit Kumar, CEO of Gurugram-based drone start-up Ankit Kumar said, " PMKVY 4.0 will definitely be a boon to bridge the gap especially for the emerging technology sectors where skill manpower is the biggest challenge. Alone drone sector in India is set to witness a demand of 1,00,000 trained drone pilots in next 2 years and we are hopeful that with the launch of PMKVY 4.0 and emphasis on new age skilling and training this will be addressed adequately."

Earlier, drone start-ups had told Moneycontrol that the budget should include subsidies for drone pilots for their training and skilling programmes along with government collaboration and involvement.

"More funding for drone pilots' training and skill-building programs should be allocated in the upcoming budget, along with increased government support," a start-up founder had said earlier.