New Delhi: Management guru C.K. Prahlad and IT honcho Nandan Nilekani have been included in the Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development that was constituted on Thursday to serve as the apex body to guide activities in the field.

To be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the council would comprise the ministers of Human Resource Development, finance, heavy industry and public enterprises, housing and urban poverty alleviation, labour and employment and rural development, as also the chairperson of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, an official statement said.

Besides Prahlad and Nilekani, four other experts in the area of skill development have been included in the council.

They are Laila Tayabji, the founder of crafts NGO Dastakaar; Renana Jhabwala, coordinator of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA); Rajendra Pawar, chairman of the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT); and Manish Sabharwal, founder and managing director of pioneering HR BPO firm India Life Hewitt.

The principal secretary to the prime minister would be the member-secretary of the council.

"The council is at the apex of a three-tier structure and would be concerned with vision setting and laying down core strategies," the statement said.

The council would be assisted by the National Skill Development Coordination Board chaired by the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, which will coordinate action for skill development both in the public and private sectors.

This apart, the finance ministry has set up a not-for-profit National Skill Development Corporation "to promote private sector action for skill development", the statement said.

The chairperson of the corporation would also be a member of the skill development council. IANS