SKY's The Limit: A Ground Report On CM Chouhan's Stipend-based Skill Development Scheme That Is Striking A Huge Chord With Youth Of Madhya Pradesh

Tanu Chakravarthy travels everyday from her home in Ganj Basoda to her college in Bhopal.

Ganj Basoda is one of the 11 tehsils in Vidisha district.

She travels 200 kilometres every single day, six days a week, to pursue her education at the government-run women's polytechnic college in Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal.

"I have seen a lot of poverty, growing up. When I saw my mother stitching and earning money to support the family, I decided I wanted to do something similar," she says.

From learning early lessons in stitching from her mother, Tanu now knows illustration and is pursuing her diploma from the Department of Fashion Technology in the college. She aspires to open a boutique of her own, someday.

Earlier, she used to be a student at ITI (Industrial Training Institute) Govindpura in Bhopal when she was referred to the polytechnic college by a former faculty member whom she admired. She then joined the women's polytechnic to enhance her skills and also learn marketing, entrepreneurship.

She and her friend Megha Malviya are eager to apply for the Mukhyamantri Seeko Kamao Yojana (Chief Minister's Learn and Earn Scheme).

Once she is through, she will be earning Rs 8,000 a month while receiving training at her company.

"It would make a world of a difference to me," she says.

What Is The Scheme About?

On 22 August, the government of Madhya Pradesh announced the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Seekho Kamao Yojana (SKY).

Through the scheme, the government aims to empower youth with skill development and on-the-job training. At its inauguration, several thousand students were present, along with the heads of many educational institutions. The first phase of the scheme is aiming to target around one lakh students.

But to everyone's surprise, the government ended up receiving nearly nine lakh registrations within no time. As of September 2023, nearly 19,122 companies have been registered and nearly 74,499 posts have been created, of which, 17,665 are now beneficiaries of the scheme.

According to news reports, just a few days after the scheme was announced, more than 14,000 posts were filled and contract letters were issued. Anyone who is a native of Madhya Pradesh aged between 18 to 29 years are eligible for the scheme, so long as they have passed their XII grade or have an ITI education.

For a Class XII pass student, Rs 8,000 will be provided as a stipend — 75 per cent through direct benefit transfer (DBT) and 25 per cent by the company. The duration of these courses can be up to one year, and students are paid up to Rs 10,000 if they are a graduate or have a higher educational qualification.

Under the SKY scheme, training will be imparted to students using the latest technology and methods. Upon completion of their training, the students will receive certificates from the State Skill Development and Employment Board.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has stated that a global skills park is also being established at the same time in Bhopal, where training will be provided to over 6,000 youths.

These students now have an opportunity to be trained in over 46 domains consisting of nearly 700 curriculums. Their aim is to solve two problems in one go: scarcity of skilled manpower and lack of employment opportunities.

Getting Their Way Past Eligibility

Lalitha Tahed, now a registered artist, hails from Jhabua. She belongs to the Bhil community — a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

After moving to Bhopal seeking better employment opportunities, Lalitha and her husband Vinod — parents of two children, ended up finding masonry work at a local artists' Devilal and Shikha Patidar's workshop on the outskirts of Bhopal.

Lalitha did not receive any formal education, but started displaying interest in creating Bhil paintings once she started seeing the works of other artists in the workshop. During her free time, she taught herself how to paint and three years later, she is now preparing to exhibit her work at an art gallery.

Lalitha's aunt has a similar story.

Lado Bai, at an early age, started off by working as a manual labourer at the Bharat Bhavan, an autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in Bhopal. With the help of Bhuri Bai, a Bhil artist who was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri by President Ramnath Kovind in 2021, she started depicting spirituality and animism of the Bhil community in her paintings.

Her luck changed when the famous artist Jagdish Swaminathan discovered her art work and encouraged her to pursue it further.

Like Lado Bai, Lalitha is now focusing on depicting nature, animism and spirituality in her canvases. She recently started to earn money by selling her art work.

For Lalitha, even Rs 8,000 a month is a huge sum of money, since care-taking and masonry can only pay so much, and paintings do not contribute a fixed income. As she is not eligible for the SKY scheme, she is planning to earn the money by registering her husband Vinod as a beneficiary since he too can paint.

Once Vinod registers and receives a contract letter, he will be receiving Rs 8,000 a month.

Many students from the aforementioned polytechnic college had a similar issue. That them being a Class X pass is not enough for them to be eligible for the scheme. Dr K V Rao, the principal of the college, told Swarajya that he has made an appeal to the authorities to consider extending the eligibility criteria for Class X pass students too, so that many more beneficiaries can be added to the scheme.

What The Students Have To Say About SKY

When Swarajya visited some of these ITIs and polytechnic colleges in Bhopal, a majority of the students expressed interest in the SKY scheme or have already applied for various positions.

In a classroom full of architecture and interior designing students, 16 out of 20 hands rose when asked how many of the students were interested in the scheme.

Neither were the students anticipating our visit, nor were they aware of why we were asking them these questions. We, of course, explained later.

Sushma Gokhale, a faculty member at the women's polytechnic college in Bhopal says that the government made early efforts to spread awareness about the scheme.

In Bhopal's Jamboree Maidan, Chief Minister Chouhan addressed a huge gathering of students and faculty members from various colleges in the state and explained the benefits of the scheme. This was where the scheme was officially flagged off too.

The government has encouraged colleges to set up incubation centres where the concept of startups can be popularised. The students too, develop an entrepreneurial spirit with initiatives like hackathons. Upon submitting ideas and proposals, the government awards the best teams and individuals with funding for their startups.

The four girls in the above picture, have formed a team and are planning to submit a proposal at the upcoming hackathon in Bhopal. They are working on the concept of developing a CosHub (costume hub) — a clothes and accessories rental service that will allow customers to borrow clothes for a short period of time and return them upon using them.

They say that they were inspired by the idea of having a startup of their own after watching Shark Tank India — a reality television show where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to investors and persuade them to invest their money in their startup.

"Have you copied this idea from Shark Tank or is it your own?" I asked, trying to be cheeky.

"No, it is our own," the girls replied, giggling at each other.

Even their faculty members think that the scheme will hugely benefit the students since they have an opportunity to be independent or find a job at one of these companies that offer them an internship position under SKY.

"Most students get absorbed into government housing boards, town planning commissions and private entities," says Sushma Gokhale.

"SKY is a great opportunity where students can learn and earn the stipend from the government. Institutions are also happy since the process of placements, developing their skills and training them is made easier with this," she adds.

For the students, they are elated since they have an opportunity to present a paycheque to their parents even before they can land a formal job. The aspiration of a student belonging to an underprivileged family is nothing but this. With schemes like SKY, students can learn the skills and eventually open their own businesses too, if required.

Office isn't burdened and even institutes are happy since the process of placements, skill development and training are made easier.

'Unemployment Allowance Alone Won't Cut It'

During the launch of the SKY scheme, Chief Minister Chouhan said that there is no dearth of skills in the youth. They, instead, "require a direction". He added that it is the duty of the government to make the youth of the state capable and empowered.

"We will impart requisite skills to the young citizens, and we will give them money for training them. Only giving unemployment allowance is not the solution to the problem, we feel that giving unemployment allowance will be unfair for the aspirations and future of the youth," Business World has quoted him as saying.

Through SKY, the government aims to not just create more employment opportunities for the youth in Madhya Pradesh, but also the chance to have an on-the-job training.

"Only giving unemployment allowance is not the solution to the problem, we feel that giving unemployment allowance will be unfair for the aspirations and future of the youth," Chouhan added.

Furthermore, he mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed 71,000 appointment letters to the youth in the state and more than one lakh government posts' recruitment are currently ongoing in Madhya Pradesh.

By organising Rozgar Divas, the government has also aimed to provide 250,000 youth with self-employment opportunities. Many internships or part-time employment opportunities in India, unfortunately, do not pay or pay very little even in big cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

As a result, the establishments that recruit interns or part-time employees do not invest the same amount of time, energy and money in imparting technical training to them, since employment is not assured and there are no strict laws governing these aspects.

SKY also aims to provide skills training for blue-collar jobs and gig economy opportunities once the training is completed. With schemes like Seekho-Kamao Yojana, Janseva Mitra, the youth in Madhya Pradesh see light at the end of the tunnel.

Conclusion

Under the Janseva Mitra internship scheme, students are tasked to reach every doorstep across Madhya Pradesh to ensure that the schemes are reaching the marginalised communities. In the past six months, the Jan Seva Mitras have been able to make their presence felt across 16,000 panchayats in the state.

With the number of Janseva Mitras crossing 3 lakh, these interns take home a stipend of Rs 8,000 a month.

Today, if reports are to be believed, Madhya Pradesh is one of the states with the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with 3.7 per cent unemployment, as of April 2023.

Through the central and state government self-employment schemes, more than 13 lakh beneficiaries have been registered and the state government under Chouhan has promised an assistance of Rs 67,000 crore to the beneficiaries.

There is but little doubt that these schemes will have a positive effect on beneficiaries and may potentially convert them into votes in the near future, since families can now be proud that their sons and daughters have started to earn bread for them even before they land a formal, full-time employment opportunity for themselves.