Shillong (Meghalaya), May 13: Meghalaya doubled down on jobs and entrepreneurship Tuesday as Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma launched Skillerate 2026 at NEHU and rolled out four youth-focused schemes, headlined by a Rs 36-crore post-training push under PROPEL.
The new package — PROPEL, MEGASKILL, SHIELD, and EQUIP — aims to plug the gap between training and earning, while prepping Meghalaya’s youth for global competition.
PROPEL will handhold 21,000 trained youth with startup toolkits, mobility aid, salary support, marketing help, and industry links. The break-up: Rs 21 crore for toolkits, Rs 3 crore for mobility, Rs 10 crore for salary augmentation, and Rs 1 crore for market linkages.
MEGASKILL sets its sights on WorldSkills Japan 2028, building a pipeline from district-level contests to the world stage. SHIELD targets dignified careers in homecare through structured training and placement. EQUIP pushes inclusive skilling for persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups.
“Nearly 50% of our population is under 20. About 60,000 youth enter the workforce every year. Jobs are our biggest challenge,” Sangma said, pitching the state-led model as more flexible than national schemes.
Backed partly by an Asian Development Bank project, the skilling push costs the state little — 80% is repaid by the Centre, Sangma noted. In three years, Rs 80 crore invested has returned an estimated Rs 150 crore in youth earnings. The state spends roughly Rs 40,000 per trainee.
Sangma said PROPEL fixes a key miss: trained youth without tools. “Plumbers, tour guides, technicians — 21,000 of them will now get trade-specific kits worth Rs 24 crore to start work immediately,” he said.
He flagged real outcomes already on ground: 19 tourism trainees placed at JW Marriott Mumbai, 30 nurses working in Japan after Japanese language skilling. “No forced migration. Pick your path, we’ll back it,” he told the gathering.
Labour Minister Methodius Dkhar called it a milestone for youth confidence and opportunity. MSSDS CEO Dr. Vijay Kumar D said over 50,000 youth have been trained and 30,000 certified in five years through 150 local partners.
Work orders and startup tools were handed out at the event, alongside a short film on Meghalaya’s skilling gains.
Senior officials, industry partners, trainees, and entrepreneurs attended Skillerate 2026, which the government billed as its next big step to turn Meghalaya’s young population into its economic edge
