Green Skill Development Programme

The Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is an initiative for skill development in the environment and forest sector to enable India's youth to get gainful employment and/or self-employment.

The programme endeavours to develop green skilled workers having technical knowledge and commitment to sustainable development. It will help in the attainment of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs), as well as Waste Management Rules (2016).

Background

The pilot project of GSDP was launched in June, 2017, for skilling Biodiversity Conservationists (Basic Course) and Para-taxonomists (Advance Course) of 3 months duration each at 10 locations, spread over 9 bio-geographic regions of the country. 94 trainees successfully completed the basic course qualifying as skilled Biodiversity Conservationists and 152 Trainees completed the Advanced Course qualifying as skilled Para-taxonomists. ENVIS RPs in Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and their respective regional offices were the nodal Centres for the pilot programme.

Based on the feedback received from the stakeholders, the GSDP is being scaled up to an all-India level.

The Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) has been conceptualised and developed in MoEF&CC in consultation with the National Skill Development Agency.

Target

The number of people to be covered under GSDP will be 80,000 during 2018-19, 2.25 lakh during 2019-20 and about 5 lakh people by the year 2021.

More than 30 programmes have been identified, which will be conducted in 84 institutions across the country.

Implementation

Realizing the need for developing the green skills, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is utilising the vast network and expertise of Environmental Information System (ENVIS) hubs and Resource Partners (RPs). ENVIS is a decentralized network of 66 centres of which 31 Centres dealing with '"State of the Environment and Related Issues" are hosted by State Government /UT Administrations called ENVIS Hubs and remaining 35 Centres are hosted by environment-related governmental and non-governmental organisations.

The skilling programmes cover diverse fields such as pollution monitoring (air/water/soil), Sewage Treatment Plant, Effluent Treatment Plants and Common Effluent Treating Plants (STP/ETP/CETP) operation, waste management, forest management, water budgeting, auditing, conservation of river dolphins, wildlife management, para taxonomy, including Peoples’ Biodiversity Register (PBRs), mangroves conservation, bamboo management and livelihood generation. The duration of the courses ranges from 80 hours to 560 hours approx.

In the first stage, a pool of Master Trainers/Specialists is being created, who can further train the youth across the country. All courses will be National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant. The Ministry will give Certificates indicating the skilling levels to all successful candidates.

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Source : ENVIS