Low salaries, courses cut short, few jobs: The dashed hopes of Skill India programme graduates

Payal Ratan, 32, had enrolled for a six-month stitching course under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana in the summer of 2022. She still has the register she used for notes and diagrams of stylised outfits such as frocks, gowns and others. The Kaushal Kendra, or training centre, was a few blocks from her residence in Varanasi’s Bhagwanpur colony.

She paid Rs 150 as fee for the form, and would pay for the dress material they used in the course, she said. “At the time of enrollment, we were told that a sewing machine along with stipend would be given after the completion of course,” Ratan recalled. Her hopes were crushed after the course came to an abrupt halt in just two months. “We were told that the centre will be shutting down soon. One day when we visited the Kaushal Kendra, it was locked and the landlord told us the owner, also the coordinators of the training programme, may or may not return,” Ratan told IndiaSpend.

During the two months of classes, Ratan had learnt how to make a kaaj-button (button hole), cutting, tailoring and finishing handkerchiefs, flared skirts, baby frocks and women’s shirts. Holding a piece of blue satin she had cut...

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