The DigiSaksham initiative is aimed at enhancing employment opportunities for youth from rural and semi-urban areas by imparting free digital skill training.

In a joint initiative with Microsoft India, the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched a digital skills programme, DigiSaksham for enhancing employment opportunities for youth from rural and semi-urban areas. Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Bhupender Yadav, launched the programme and said that upgradations, constant skilling, reskilling, and upskilling are important in the age of fast-paced technology.
 
This programme is an extension of the Central government's ongoing programme to support youth from rural areas and provide employment opportunities to more than three lakh youth in the first year of its implementation. Prioritising those job seekers belonging to the semi-urban areas and disadvantaged communities, the programme will help them by providing free of cost training in digital skills, the Ministry informed. This will also include people who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Union Minister Yadav also spoke about the importance of skilling in constructing India's digital divide by placing the country on a path to economic recovery and further preparing its youth population to strive for a digital future. This will not only cater to the needs of the domestic economy but will also foresee the overseas employment opportunities, he added.

Sunil Bharti, secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Anuradha Prasad, special secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari, were among those present at the launch event.

DigiSaksham initiative to provide training under three categories

The DigiAaksham initiative, a joint effort by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Microsoft India, will provide free of cost training in digital skills as well as advanced computing. There are three types of training under it which include Self-paced learning, VILT mode learning, and ILT mode learning. The ILT training is an in-person programme that will be conducted at the Model Career Centres and National Career Service Centres across the country.

Therefore, job seekers willing to undertake the training can access it through the National Career Service Portal and can access training in areas like Java Script, data visualisation, advanced Excel, Power Bi, HTML, programming languages, software development fundamentals, introduction to coding, and many more. DigiSaksham is implemented by the Rural Support Program - India.