PM Virasat Ka Samvardhan (VIKAS) Scheme | 19 Jul 2025

Source: PIB  

Why in News? 

The Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) launched a skill training and women entrepreneurship development project under the Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) scheme. 

• Under this project, 150 youth candidates will be trained in Internet of Things (IoT) and 300 women candidates will receive entrepreneurship training, with stipends and industry linkages for employment opportunities. 

What is PM-VIKAS Scheme? 

• About:  
  • It is a skilling initiative from MoMA focusing on the skilling, entrepreneurship and leadership training requirements of the minority and artisan communities across the country.  
    • The scheme is intended to be implemented in convergence with the Skill India Mission and through integration with the Skill India Portal (SIP). 
  • The PM VIKAS scheme integrates the Ministry’s earlier skilling and education initiatives into a unified platform to support the socio-economic development of India’s six notified minority communities - Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Zoroastrians (Parsis).  
  • The scheme also provisions to facilitate credit linkages by connecting beneficiaries with loan programs offered by the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC). 
• Implementation: 
  • For the implementation of the scheme, the Ministry aims to select art & craft clusters in Minority Concentrated Areas (MCAs).  
  • The scheme also aims to converge with other Ministries like Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Education along with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to ensure holistic development of minorities in the identified clusters. 
• Components of the Scheme: 
  • Skilling and Training Component: 
    • Traditional Training (earlier known as USTTAD and Hamari Dharohar): It primarily covers training in need-based courses for minority artisan communities and their family members who are engaged in traditional arts and crafts including languishing art forms.  
    • Non-traditional Skilling (earlier Seekho aur Kamao): It seeks to impart skill training, particularly to minorities and artisan families, in National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) compliant job roles in sectors having linkages with arts and crafts along employment opportunities.  
  • Leadership and Entrepreneurship Component (earlier Nai Roshni): 
    • It aims to promote leadership development and basic entrepreneurship primarily among youth from minority communities and artisan families through focused modules.  
    • The Entrepreneurship sub-component of this initiative aims to provide exclusive support to women trained in leadership and basic entrepreneurship by offering intensive entrepreneurship training. 
    • Further, it intends to select aspiring women entrepreneurs, from amongst those trained, to become Business Mentors (to be known as ‘Biz Sakhis’ in the scheme) and promote establishment of individual or group enterprises for the same. 
  • Education Component (earlier Nai Manzil): 
    • This component aims to provide education bridge program to school dropouts from minority and artisan communities for pursuing open schooling in class 8th- 12th and provide them certification through National Institute of Open School (NIOS) or any other institutions approved by MoMA.