The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on Apr 22 convened a Capacity Building and Review Workshop under the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP), themed “Viksit Gaon for Viksit Bharat”, at Kaushal Bhawan, New Delhi that brought together key stakeholders including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministries of Textiles, Tourism, and Rural Development, along with District Administrations, State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs) from Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, and Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), creating a focused platform to drive convergence and accelerate skill-led development across India’s strategically important border regions.
The Vibrant Villages Programme, a flagship initiative of MHA, aims to develop 662 villages across Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Ladakh as self-reliant, well-connected “first villages” of the country. In alignment with this vision, MSDE is facilitating locally relevant, demand-driven skilling initiatives to enhance livelihood opportunities in these regions.
MDSE plays a critical role in implementing skill development proposals under VVP from receiving and examining proposals from MHA, mapping them to appropriate schemes, sanctioning projects, and ensuring robust implementation and monitoring, to facilitating assessment and certification through the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH). To date, MSDE has sanctioned 74 skill development proposals under the programme, marking significant progress in operationalising skilling interventions in border districts.
The deliberations focused on reviewing the status of approved and ongoing VVP skill projects, identifying key implementation challenges such as trainer availability, beneficiary mobilization, and infrastructure gaps, and strengthening convergence across stakeholders. SSCs and SSDMs played an important role in providing inputs on programme design, trainer empanelment, and strengthening market linkages to ensure better outcomes.
Looking ahead, MSDE laid out a focused and action-driven roadmap to strengthen on-ground implementation. Districts will be guided to develop robust project pipelines with clearly defined timelines, training locations, trainers, and target beneficiaries ahead of proposal submission. Emphasis will be placed on rapidly operationalising in-situ training by utilising existing government infrastructure such as schools, ITIs, and community centres to enable swift rollout.
To address implementation challenges, enhanced handholding support will be provided through SSDMs and SSCs, particularly in areas such as proposal development, trainer onboarding, and compliance with scheme norms, supported by well-defined standard operating procedures. A structured coordination framework will also be institutionalised among District Administrations, SSDMs, SSCs, and MSDE to ensure continuous monitoring, effective issue resolution, and timely course correction.
The workshop also fostered peer learning among districts, highlighting innovative practices and scalable solutions. Discussions underscored the importance of institutional coordination, real-time monitoring, and responsive implementation mechanisms to ensure that skilling initiatives translate into sustainable livelihood outcomes.
Smt. Hena Usman, Joint Secretary, MSDE; Smt. Manasi Sahay Thakur, Joint Secretary, MSDE; Smt. Archana Mayaram, Economic Advisor, MSDE; senior officials from the MSDE, MHA and partner ministries, state governments, and representatives of SSDMs, District Administrations, and SSCs were also present on the occasion.
