The Indian experiment on Skills Training is a classic case of merry-go-round. One comes back to the same point where the ride started, albeit with a lot of amusement thrown in. Don't believe me? One of the prominent newspapers asked a question under the Right to Information Act (RTI) to provide data on placed candidates under various vocational training initiatives. The reply is, to say the least, shocking. The government's main execution arm the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has reported that it has been able to identify only 5% of the candidates who got placed after being trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna ( PMKVY). The agency admitted that out of 17.07 lakh students, it was able to track only 82,183 youth who got some kind of job. It's a sad reflection on many things indeed. Firstly a national agency seems to not have its house in order. Its sole purpose of existence was to successfully deliver outcome-based vocational training and the outcome was a decent job that was offered above minimum wage. How come then no tracking was done? this even raises serious doubts about the number of youth actually trained under the flagship programme. There are several reports of how the STAR scheme became, in due course a Scam in which the real beneficiaries were the fly-by-night training outfits who pocketed large sums of the dole. Coincidentally the minister for Skill development and entrepreneurship had a press conference in which he announced that a new body named the National Board for Assessment & Certification (NBAC) is being formed to create a skilled workforce of 40 crores by 2022. The minister termed it as a historic decision and lamented that in the past 66 years, ITI certification had no validity. While wishing him all success one hopes that this does not remain a headline in a series of announcements. If the agencies do not adhere to their basic task of keeping the database accurate and are only providing soft loans the future is far from satisfactory. The core purpose of skills training has to be to provide meaningful training that polishes the skills of the youth who are found acceptable by the industry and that enables him/her to get a decent living wage. The rest is an empty headline intended to garner a few brownie points.