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Context

• The National Career Service(NCS) portal has registered the highest vacancies during the year 2022-23 since its launch in July, 2015.

National Career Service (NCS)

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing the National Career Service (NCS) Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment-related services like career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc.
• The National Career Services (NCS) initiative aims to address the gaps in the employment market by -
  • Strategic interventions and partnership with leading institutions and organizations,
  • Improving decent employment,
  • Enhancing quality of workforce,
  • Enhancing female labour force participation,
  • Entrepreneurial endeavors,
  • Informal to formal transition,
  • Engaging with rural workforce for higher productivity,
  • Re-employment opportunities etc.
• NCS is a one-stop solution that provides a wide array of employment and career-related services to the citizens of India.
• It works towards bridging the gap between candidates and employers; candidates seeking training and career guidance and agencies providing training and career counseling.

The main objectives of NCS project are as follows:

• Enhancing career and employment opportunities
• Counselling and guidance for career development
• Enhancing quality of workforce
• Focusing on inclusive growth initiatives

About NCS Portal

• The National Career Service (NCS) Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) was dedicated to the Nation by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India on 20.07.2015.
• The NCS portal provides a nation-wide online platform for jobseekers and employers for job matching in a dynamic, efficient and responsive manner.
• The NCS also makes available a rich repository of career content on over 3000 occupations across 53 sectors.
• The services under NCS are available online and can be accessed directly, through career centres, Common Service Centres, mobile devices, cyber cafes etc.
• The NCS Portal also facilitates organization of job fairs where both employers and job seekers can interact.
• A dedicated helpdesk (multi-lingual) is also available from Tuesday to Sunday on 1800-425-1514 for assisting users

All the services available on the NCS portal are free of cost for all stake holders including jobseekers, employers, training providers and placement organizations.

International Vacancies

• NCS portal has provisioned to collect international job preference based on occupation and regional preference.

Employability Trainings

• In partnership with the pioneers in the industry, NCS organizes various training program to augment the employability skills, cognitive as well as non-cognitive, of the jobseekers. 

Career Skills Training by TCS iON

• National Career Service (NCS) partnered with TCS iON, a strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. to offer its registered jobseekers a free, self-paced Online Training Program on “Career Skills”, which will equip the learners with an array of soft skills.
• The course is available in Hindi and English and covers modules like corporate etiquette, effective e-mail writing, preparing impactful presentations, Corporate Telephone Etiquette etc.

“DigiSaksham” Job skills Training by Microsoft

• National Career Service partnered with Microsoft India and launched Digisaksham, a joint digital skills initiative for employability through digital skills.
• The project is focused on empowering the youth from rural & semi-urban areas to acquire digital skills, with a focus on rural and socially disadvantaged youth for better career opportunities.

Career Counsellors

• NCS Portal provides online career counselling and vocational guidance services to its registered users.
• This service aims to equip the jobseeker with necessary information that is required to make right career choices based on his/her qualification, skill set and interest.
• NCS Portal also provides on ground counselling services through its country wide network of Model Career Centers. Ministry of Labour and Employment has deployed trained Young Professionals and Counsellors at its various Model Career Centers under National Career Service Scheme who offer specialized Individual and Group Career Counselling.

Career Information Content

• NCS provides detailed career information across 52 sectors, on various job roles under each sector for use by Job aspirants. Career information under each sector has been made available in both video and text form on the Portal.

Job-fairs organized by Career Centres

• Job fairs are organized at Model Career Centres (MCCs) for facilitating the jobseekers to meet with the employers and thereafter leading to their placement.

Interlinkages of NCS portal

• NCS Portal has also been integrated with other Ministries/ departments like e-Shram MSDE, MHRD, AICTE, etc.
• Online integration with EPFO, ESIC and Shram Suvidha Portal have also been done to link the willing employers and enabling them to shortlist right candidates through a countrywide database of workforce on NCS portal.

Young Professional Scheme

• Under the NCS project, Model Career Centres (MCCs) have been set up to provide standardized employment services across the nation.
• In order to make these MCCs effectively functional, a ‘Young Professional Scheme’ was launched by Directorate General for Employment (DGE) wherein one YP has been deployed at each MCC, for a span of 3 years, to facilitate the activities of the NCS Project.

Evaluation of NCS Portal

• Around 7 lakhs vacancies have been reported by employers on NCS during the year 2022-23 compared to around 13 lakh vacancies in 2021-22.
• The reporting of vacancies on NCS in 2022-23 has shown an increase of 175% compared to 2021-22.
• Further, year 2022-23 also witnessed highest active vacancies count of more than 5.3 lakh on 30th October, 2022.
• The increase in vacancy posting on NCS has been observed across all the sectors.
• The Finance and Insurance sector has shown a growth of more than 800% and registered 8 lakh vacancies during 2022-23 compared to 2.2 lakh vacancies in 2021-22.
• The vacancies in the Operations and Support sector have also registered a growth of 400% with 75 lakh vacancies reported in 2022-23 against 76 thousand in 2021-22.
• The vacancies in the sectors, viz., ‘Hotels, Food Service and Catering’, ‘Manufacturing’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, etc. also significantly increased during the year 2022-23 over the previous year.
• During the year 2022-23, the NCS portal has also achieved a milestone of registering more than 1 million employers since its launch.
• Out of total registered employers, more than 8 lakhs employers were registered in the year 2022-23.
• The maximum registrations of employers were from the Service sector (6.5 lakh) which was followed by the employers from the manufacturing sector.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. What are the major objectives of National Career Service (NCS) initiative that is being implemented by the Government of India?  Also, highlight the features of the NCS program launched for revamping public employment-related services in India.

 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1915543