‘Drone Shakti’ will come to ITIs
The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurships (MSDE) will launch the DESH Stack e-Portal — Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood —as was announced in the Union Budget 2022. According to a statement from the ministry, The DESH Stack e-Portal aims to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training. It will also provide API-based trusted skill credentials, payment and discovery layers to find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. It will be a transparent platform that provides payment and discovery layers to boost livelihood and entrepreneurial growth besides proving access to online training, all at one place.
MSDE will work with MSME and MoLE for integration of various digital platforms to provide unified opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship to fulfil this vision, a fact that is amply reflected in the National Education Policy 2020 that envisages seamless integration of education and skilling.
The technology architecture for DESH Stack e-Portal is founded on Trust-Payment-Discovery enabling protocols will help citizens find trusted skilling courses and training institutes and a place to store their skill and experience certificates in Digi Locker, which in turn, can be accessed by employers to verify profiles of skilled professionals. Similarly, Payment Technology protocols will help needy citizens access government funding for training, while Discovery Technology protocols will allow transparent discovery of skilling courses, institutes, loan, scholarship, CSR and job opportunities. This will encourage skill-seekers, prospective employers and financial institutions to come to the portal and is in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of building the largest skilling programme in the world, where we aim to skill 10 crore Indians in the next five years.
DESH is extension of Aadhar-DBT-Jan-Dhan-BHIM technology architecture. DESH technology architecture is founded on Trust-Payment-Discovery enabling technology protocols and specifications. Trust Technology protocols on one hand help citizens find trustworthy skilling courses and Training Institutes and on the other hand help citizens store their Skill Certificates and Experience Certificates in Digi Locker which can be verified by employers to access trusted and verified profiles of skilled professionals. Payment Technology protocols/specifications help needy citizens to access government funding for training in their chosen skilling/reskilling/upskilling courses. Discovery Technology protocols/specifications allow transparent discovery of skilling courses/skilling institutes, Loan/scholarship/CSR opportunities and job opportunities.
Like Aadhar and UPI, DESH is also a set of open protocols/specifications, open data sources, and open APIs which will help start-ups to build innovative solutions to help everycitizen maximize their potential by availing skilling/reskilling/upskilling and employment/entrepreneurship opportunities.
Udyam, e-Shram, NCS and ASEEM portals will be interlinked. Their scope will be widened. They will now perform as portals with live, organic databases, providing G2C, B2C and B2B services. These services will relate to credit facilitation, skilling, and recruitment with an aim to further formalise the economy and enhance entrepreneurial opportunities for all.
The Drone Shakti program is yet another step in this direction that will receive a boost from Drone as a Service.
‘Drone Shakti’ will come to ITIs
The Drone Shakti program announced in the Union Budget 2022 on February 1 will be piloted through select Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). The Directorate General of Training (DGT) has already designed a six month duration training programme in ‘Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)/ Drone Pilot’ Trade besides some short term courses in Drone Assembly/Repair/Coding etc. have also been designed by Sector Skill Councils.
The course programme would be rolled out in select ITIs across all states to promote drone making.. Besides, NSDC & SSCs would also help implement this training programme through various industry associations. Multi-Skilling needs in this from Ministries like Agriculture, Chemicals & Fertilizers etc. will also be factored in.
As per the plans of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurships (MSDE), startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS).
DGT has got qualification tag on drones approved under NSQF for implementation in ITIs:
- Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) – Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)/Drone Pilot (Refresher Course)
- Drone Technician
- Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)/Drone Pilot
- Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)/Drone Pilot (CTS)
It is noteworthy that the National Council of Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) has approved more than 5,100 industry aligned qualifications till January 2022, on the request of various Sector Skill Councils and other awarding bodies and has identified future skills required by the industry in close collaboration with SSCs, DGT, Central Ministries, State Governments, industry experts. NCVET is closely working on skills required for Industry 4.0 and beyond. Efforts have been made for NSQF-level alignment of industry-recognized courses from top companies like Oracle, Microsoft, TATA, CISCO and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) courses to skill/upskill/reskill the youth.
