New Delhi, Jul 29 (IANS): The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has since 2015 trained or oriented 1.48 crore youth in the country, Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The PMKVY scheme is for imparting skill development training through Short-Term Training (STT) and up-skilling and re-skilling through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to youth across the country.

It has two training components, namely, Short-Term Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

"Under the PMKVY scheme, since 2015 till June 30, 1.48 crore candidates have been trained/oriented," Jayant Chaudhary, the Minister of State (Independent Charge), MSDE, said.

Further, the scheme also imparts training in government and private schools, colleges, universities (including skill universities), and other higher education institutions.

"As of June 30, training under PMKVY 4.0 is being conducted at 12,257 training locations across the country, including at 10,006 short-term training centres and 2,251 locations for recognition of prior learning," Jayant Chaudhary said.

The Centre has also established the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) across the country to run industry-driven courses of high quality with a focus on employability and create aspirational value for skill development training.

"As of June 30, 508 PMKKs are operational," Chaudhary said.

The minister also noted that PMKVY 1.0, PMKVY 2.0, and PMKVY 3.0, implemented from FY 2015-16 to FY 2021-22 enabled 24.3 lakh youths, out of the 56.88 lakh candidates. Placement is delinked from PMKVY 4.0, the current version of the scheme under implementation from FY 2022-23 onwards.