Kerala urges Centre to strengthen federal support for skilling

thiruvananthapuram/hyderabad: kerala on monday emphasised the constitutional spirit of co-operative federalism and urged the centre for equitable treatment of all states, irrespective of political alignment. the southern state urged the union government to institutionalise a system for recognising best-performing states in skill development and to promote cross-learning through knowledge exchange platforms. the remarks were made by state labour minister v sivankutty while addressing a gathering at the kaushal manthan conclave organised by the union ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (msde) in hyderabad. in the presence of union minister jayant chaudhary and ministers from southern states, sivankutty articulated kerala's strong commitment to advancing the national skilling agenda while calling for greater cooperative federalism and equitable central support. extending warm greetings and appreciation to the msde for its leadership, the minister highlighted kerala's human development strengths and successful implementation of skill development initiatives under kase--the state skill development mission. during the address, the kerala minister sought continued support for the institutional framework created under the sankalp programme, particularly for district skill committees (dscs), which have proven effective in reaching marginalised and non-institutional target groups. noting the success of the mahatma gandhi national fellowship (mgnf) programme, he proposed the establishment of a national pool of skilled professionals dedicated to implementing and monitoring skilling interventions at state and district levels. sivankutty said kerala, in collaboration with national skill development corporation (nsdc) and kochi metro rail linited (kmrl), has proposed the establishment of a national-level institute of management research and training (imrt) in kochi. the detailed project report (dpr) is ready, and space has been allocated, he said and requested the centre's assistance in fast-tracking this project. the minister requested timely financial support from the centre in this regard. he also sought assistance from the union government for the indian institute of foreign languages (iifl) centres proposed in thiruvananthapuram and kochi envisaged to support international mobility of the workforce. sivankutty, however, noted with concern that in the last four years, central assistance to the state has been limited to pmkvy, sankalp, pmnaps and strive schemes. emphasising the constitutional spirit of cooperative federalism, he urged for equitable treatment of all states, irrespective of political alignment. "kerala's itis, polytechnics, and technical schools are among the best in india. our students contribute to national and international job markets. yet, our training equipment needs urgent modernisation," the minister said. he proposed raising the centre's contribution in iti hub-and-spoke schemes from 50 per cent to 80 per cent to ensure effective upgradation. he also highlighted the urgent need to extend schemes like sankalp for at least another five years and urged the centre to address the severe shortage of skilled trainers by offering better pay, recognition, and support structures, an official statement added.