A premier national fellowship programme fully funded by MSDE to strengthen the ecosystem of decentralized skill development governance. As part of SANKALP, Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) is a two-year academic programme which combines classroom sessions at IIM with intensive field immersion at the district level. The primary purpose behind instituting the MGNF programme is to strengthen the district skill administration and the District Skill Committees (DSCs). The Fellows would acquire academic expertise and technical competency in understanding the overall skill ecosystem and help the District Skill Committee’s (DSCs) to manage skill development planning at the district level by formulating District Skill Development Plans (DSDPs). MSDE launched the Phase-II of MGNF programme with 9 IIMs namely IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM-Udaipur, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi and IIM-Jammu as Academic Partners on 13th February 2021 in the august presence of Hon’ble Union Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and other dignitaries.