NITI Aayog report suggests adoption of Turkiye's program to address skill gaps in India
New Delhi (PTI): A NITI Aayog report on Monday mentioned Turkiye as one of the nations from which India can adopt global best practices for addressing skill gaps in the country’s medium enterprises.
The report titled 'Designing a Policy for Medium Enterprises' listed programmes of Turkiye in addition to Canada, Singapore and Australia for encouraging medium enterprises.
The report said Turkiye's "KOSGEB provides distance training on entrepreneurship; an effective, easy and flexible entrepreneurship training without time and space constraints by E- Akademi Programme … Entrepreneurship Support Programme, with preferential treatment for women, youth and handicapped entrepreneurs."
Also, observing that Turkiye’s e-Academy is an online training platform providing subsidised courses, enhancing accessibility for SMEs across regions, the report said, "online training programs can be offered at a subsidized rate, and free of cost for marginalized groups (as provided in Turkiye’s e-Academy)."
Turkiye is facing backlash in India for its support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, which was launched by the country to destroy terror infrastructure following the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people including tourists, were killed.
India's aviation security regulator BCAS earlier this month revoked the security clearance of Turkish firm Celebi Airport Services India on grounds related to national security with immediate effect.
The NITI report said for medium enterprises to succeed in a globalized market, there is a clear need for a tailored, data-driven approach to skill development that can align with industry needs and ensure a competitive, skilled workforce.
To address challenges faced by medium enterprises, it recommended the introduction of a working capital financing scheme linked to enterprise turnover, a Rs 5 crore credit card facility at market rates and expedited fund disbursal mechanisms through retail banks, overseen by the Ministry of MSME.
The report also suggested the upgradation of existing technology centres into sector-specific and regionally customised India SME 4.0 Competence Centers to promote the adoption of Industry 4.0 solutions.
The Aayog also recommended the establishment of a dedicated R&D cell within the Ministry of MSME, leveraging the Self-Reliant India Fund for cluster-based projects of national significance.
The MSME sector contributes approximately 29 per cent to India's GDP, accounts for 40 per cent of exports, and employs over 60 per cent of the workforce.
Despite its critical role, the composition of the sector is disproportionately weighted -- 97 per cent of registered MSMEs are micro-enterprises, 2.7 per cent are small, and only 0.3 per cent are medium enterprises.
Medium enterprises, though only 0.3 per cent of MSMEs, contribute 40 per cent of MSME exports, showcasing immense untapped potential.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
