India on Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the Skill India Mission, the flagship programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 July 2015 to equip young people with industry-relevant skills. Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary opened a week-long series of events on World Youth Skills Day, highlighting the initiative’s role in building a future-ready workforce. According to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, government programmes have trained more than 6 crore people since 2014. Of these, 1.63 crore have completed courses under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, including over 25 lakh candidates in the current PMKVY 4.0 phase. Earlier versions of the scheme reported a 42.8 percent placement rate, and course offerings have expanded from traditional trades to emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, drones and robotics. The government has merged PMKVY, the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme and Jan Shikshan Sansthan into a single Skill India Programme running through 2026, and last month announced Centres of Excellence at National Skill Training Institutes in Hyderabad and Chennai to strengthen instructor training. Modi said the administration will continue to align skilling with global best practices as part of its goal of building a developed ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.