The Union Labour Ministry and Microsoft India have jointly launched here on Thursday a digital skilled platform -- DigiSaksham -- to enhance youth employability. According to the Centre, the platform will impart digital skills to youth that are required in an increasingly technology-driven era.

Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav said the platform extends the Centre's ongoing programmes to support the youth from rural and semi-urban areas. The Centre will provide free of cost training in digital skills, including advanced computing, to three lakh youth in the scheme’s first year.

"The jobseekers can access the training through National Career Service (NCS) Portal ( www.ncs.gov.in ). The initiative gives priority to the job-seekers of semi urban areas belonging to disadvantaged communities, including those who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic," a Government release said.

The Centre aims to provide training to nearly one crore active jobseekers registered on NCS website in areas like Java Script, Data Visualisation, Advance Excel, Power Bi, HTML, programming languages, software development fundamentals, introduction to coding etc.

Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said that skills of future will be different from today, and bridging the digital skill equity gap requires involvement and close cooperation of government and the private sector. He said such platforms would further accelerate India’s transition to a digital economy.