The North News
New Delhi, October 4
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched youth-focused initiatives worth more than ₹62,000 crore, highlighting education and skills development as key to India’s growth. Speaking at the Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Modi said the programmes marked “another milestone” in the government’s push to strengthen skill training and integrate it with industry needs. The Prime Minister announced the launch of the ₹60,000 crore PM SETU scheme, which will upgrade over 1,000 ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) with new machinery, industry experts, and updated curricula to match domestic and global skill demands. He also inaugurated 1,200 skill labs across Navodaya Vidyalayas and Eklavya Model Schools nationwide. Modi stressed that India’s ITIs were “not only premier institutions for industrial education but also workshops for building an Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).” He noted that nearly 5,000 new ITIs had been established in the past decade, bringing the total to 15,000.
The event also carried special significance for Bihar, where the government announced a new Skill Training University, named after Bharat Ratna Jananayak Karpoori Thakur, alongside a new Youth Commission and thousands of government job appointments. Modi praised the “dedication and perseverance” of young awardees, many from rural and remote areas, including women and differently abled students. He said the initiatives were designed to ensure a brighter future for India’s youth and to prevent the large-scale migration that plagued Bihar in previous decades. The Prime Minister underlined that education reforms were also under way in Bihar, citing expansion projects at IIT Patna, NIT Patna’s new Bihta campus, and infrastructure upgrades at Patna University, Nalanda Open University, and other institutions. “These steps symbolise India’s priority for skill development and knowledge,” Modi said, adding that local talent, resources and skills would be key drivers of the 21st century economy.
