New Delhi, Sept 26 (KNN) Union Minister for Rural Development, Nitin Gadkari said 10 lakh rural youths will get skill development training for jobs by 2017 under the programme Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).

He said the government will launch skill development training centres on a large scale to address the problem of unemployment particularly in rural India.

Launching DDU-GKY here, the minister said skills imparted under the programme will now be benchmarked against international standards.

Countries like United States, UK, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, China and Spain and the middle-east countries have high demand for skilled manpower, where Indian rural youth can be absorbed after they acquire industry-specific training, he said.

The minister also asked the private sector to contribute in a big way to this mission.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Rural Development Upendra Kushwaha said the government has decided to scale up the skill development scheme to overcome unemployment which is a big problem in the country.

On the other hand, Secretary, Rural Development Ministry LC Goyal said that only 10 lakh youths were trained during the last ten years, while 12 million people get into the workforce every year.

He said, out of 12 million people, only 10 per cent are skilled ones, while the percentage in European Union is 75 and in China it is 50 per cent. (KNN/ST)