The government is planning to launch third phase of its flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in the next financial year, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey has said. The government launched the PMKVY scheme in 2015 and revamped it in 2016 to impart skills to one crore persons by 2020.

The revamped scheme, called PMKVY 2.0, moved to a grant-based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with common norms.

According to official data, over 69 lakh candidates have been trained across the country under the PMKVY till November 11.On asked whether the ongoing scheme will see an extension as 30% of the target is yet to be met, the minister told PTI: “We will be crossing 90% of the target under the ongoing scheme…and as you know, training and skilling the youth are key objectives of the government. We will (also) be coming up with PMKVY-III.”

The target under PMKVY-III, which he said will be launched after March 2020, will be bigger and cover larger aspects. The minister also urged public sector and private sector players to lay emphasis on apprenticeship programme. “I assure all help from my ministry. They (companies) must go ahead and give, organise and promote apprenticeship,” he said.