My Press Briefing in AICC 21-Sep-2018

Modi Government has an inherent ‘Skill’ of ‘Conning the Common Man’

BJP is Killing ‘Skill India’ using ‘Touts’, ‘Middlemen’ & ‘Mafia’

Modi Govt’s Mission of ‘Skilling’ has become a mechanism for fast ‘Billing’ for BJP friends!

स्किल इंडियाका निकला दम, भाजपा के बिचौलियों ने किया पैसा हज़म !

भाजपा के लिए Skill इंडिया बन गया ‘Scam with India’ !

On August 18, 2018, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his home state of Gujarat had made a tall claim. He said –

दिल्ली से एक रुपया निकलता है तो पूरा 100 पैसा गरीबों तक पहुंचता है।“

A month after that, an investigation by media and Parliamentary replies by his own Ministers has punched gaping holes in this tall claim by the Prime Minister.

On July 15, 2015, with much hype & hoopla- PM Modi announced ‘Skill India’ and promised to train 40 Crore people by 2022. In the middle of the extravagant hullabaloo and tamasha, he boasted –

‘Skill India mission is not merely to fill pockets but to bring a sense of self-confidence among the poor’

Again, reality beats the rhetoric.

Like everything else that the Modi Govt does, its ‘Skill India Mission’ also has turned out to be a massive scam with people within the BJP eco-system, its cronies, middlemen, touts and mafia pocketing the money for the same and listing ghost beneficiaries

The mission of skilling has evolved into a mechanism of fast billing for BJP’s friends. In the name of making youth employable, Modi Govt’s Skill Development Ministry seems to have created a shortcut to profitable business for the unscrupulous.—

Ghost Beneficiaries Galore- BJP Middlemen Profit!

In an investigative media report has found how there are several ghost beneficiaries under the Textile Ministry’s Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS). Most Partner agencies that are an active part of the BJP’s eco-system are entitled to 75% of government subsidy on the sanctioned cost of Rs10,000 per candidate. These middlemen and touts use details like Aadhaar numbers of unsuspecting people to project them as beneficiaries of Skill India. Smt. Smriti Irani is the Textile Minster and this specific scheme comes under her portfolio. A social worker in UP, who had filed an RTI reply says that “Touts and middlemen are virtually stealing Aadhaar cards across villages in the name of skill development schemes. Subsequently, the victims are portrayed as fraudulent beneficiaries of government schemes and their details uploaded on government websites.”  Not only this, “Sometimes the middlemen also demand upto Rs 10000 from a candidate in lieu of approval of enrollments,” he adds.

Thus in this money making scheme- ‘Ordinary People Suffers & Mafia Prospers’!

Smt. Smriti Irani, who leaves no opportunity to exert her larynx on  variety of inane issues, is absolutely mum on the rampant corruption under her watch! Why?

Parliamentary Reply Nails Modi Govt’s Lie!

A recent RTI reply exposes how the Modi Government has completely failed the much hyped ‘Skill India’ Mission. A Rajya Sabha reply dated 8th August 2018  by the Ministry of Skill Development; who is now headed by the Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan spills the beans.

As per data reported on Skill Development Management System (SDMS) portal, about 50 lakh candidates have been trained in the country so far since the inception of the Scheme. Of the candidates certified under PMKVY as on 10.07.2018, Only 9.68 lakh candidates have been placed in various sectors across the country. [Annexure A1]

Which effectively means that the ONLY 1.25% of the targeted 40 Crore people have been trained under Skill India. Out of these, less than 20% have been placed. This is the pathetic record of the Modi Govt, who has allocated Rs 12000 Cr for this scheme!

These figures are only correct, if we assume that there are NO Ghost beneficiaries. But after the recent investigation, these figures cannot be trusted. Which only means that – ‘Skill India’ has turned into ‘Scamming India’ by the BJP to benefit its supporters and touts?

Did the PM know about a brewing Scam?

With much tamasha and fanfare, PM Modi had created the Ministry of Skill Development (Kaushal Vikas) by merging the previous Governments initiatives of the National Skill Development Corporation and Skill Development Council. It is now apparent that behind that slogan making exercise, the idea was to divert funds from skilling of youth to create hubs of profiteering by agents of BJP Ministers, MLAs and MPs.

It is not that the PM didn’t know of the scam brewing there. It was this knowledge that was behind the removal of the previous Skill Development Minister?

A government-appointed Sharda Prasad committee criticised the Modi Govt in its report last year for setting an unachievable target of skilling 40 Cr youth. The committee had further found that the Modi Govt  had been missing its targets over the previous two years as far as skilling the workforce was concerned. Analysing the government’s performance on skilling the country’s youth over a five-year period beginning 2011, the committee found that the only time the targets had been achieved was in 2013-14, during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.

CONGRESS DEMANDS:

  • Comprehensive Impartial Investigation in the Skill India Scam. Who is responsible for it?
  • Recovery of the Crores of People’s Money lost due to these irregularities.

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