National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the nodal agency for skill and entrepreneurship development working under the guidance of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), is conducting seven skill competitions—industry 4.0, mechatronics, prototype modelling, CNC turning, CNC milling, plastic die engineering, robot systems integration—in Bengaluru under IndiaSkills 2021 from 3 to 5 January 2022. The competition for information network cabling skill is being conducted in Mumbai. The remaining 46 skill competitions will be held in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi and eight other locations in the National Capital Region (NCR) from 7 to 9 January.

The competitions are being held at multiple locations under Covid-19 protocols mandated by local authorities and state governments. Decentralization of skill competitions will also ensure providing world-class infrastructure to the participants. Toyota India, Festo India Pvt. Ltd., Government Tool Room & Training Centre (GTTC), Karnataka German Technical Training Institutes (KGTTI) and Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) are facilitating the skill competitions in Bengaluru. ICT Center of Excellence, Mumbai is enabling the competition for information network cabling skill.

Under the Skill India Mission, the country’s biggest skill competition, IndiaSkills 2021 Nationals will bring together more than 500 participants from 26 states/ union territories, covering 54 skills such as beauty therapy, cyber security, floristry, autobody repair, cloud computing, water technology, painting and decorating, health and social care, welding, among others.

Seven new-age skills—robot systems integration, additive manufacturing, digital construction, industry 4.0, renewable energy, mobile applications development, and industrial design technology—have been introduced to the competition this year, keeping pace with the emerging technologies.

Witnessing over 2.5 lakh registrations, IndiaSkills 2021 began with district and state-level competitions in August-September 2021.  The state-level competitions were conducted across 26 states/ UTs. This was followed by four regional competitions for East (Patna), West (Gandhinagar), North (Chandigarh) and South (Visakhapatnam), where more than 1,300 competitors pitted their skills against each other to qualify for the national round. The 500+ finalists from four regional competitions will now exhibit their skills at the National level to vie for a gold and a silver medal in each skill category.

Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, NSDC said, “IndiaSkills Competition aims to create a pool of talented and skilled workforce, who will fuel the economic growth of the country in the future. The competition offers a national platform to the youth and exposure to global training standards.  It is a step towards discovering the power of skills and making vocational training aspirational for the youth.”