Chief Minister Kalikho Pul called for centre’s intervention in improving skill development in the northeast to create employment opportunities at the mid-term review meeting of the governing council of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDC), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Pul insisted that with surge in development trajectory for northeast due to centre’s full-hearted support, the people of the region must benefit from the process and get equitable employment. He said that people must be trained in skills of the present and skills of the future to ensure the success of Skill Development Mission. Further calling for centre’s intervention in skill development, Pul urged for “Udaan Scheme” to be introduced in the northeast, particularly in the states of Arunachal and Sikkim, which is a Special Industry Initiative for Jammu & Kashmir by the Ministry of Home Affairs and implemented by National Skill Development Corporation.
The Chief Minister also urged for continuation of the centrally sponsored Skill Development Initiative (SDI), which is likely to be subsumed with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). He pointed out that SDI scheme is the most suitable as well as the most successful scheme under implementation in the State, under which 11,658 unemployed youth in Arunachal were imparted employable skill development training and 3500 skilled youth are working in various sectors/organization all over the country.
Insisting on the need to engage State governments, Sector Skills Councils (SSC) and the local training providers for setting up model centres, the Chief Minister said that it could revamp the existing infrastructure stressing that representative from the State governments should be on the Selection Board, as they would have a better understanding of ground situations. Pul also asked for setting up of two centres for Overseas Employment, which is being proposed under the NSDC and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He requested that at least 2 such Centres to be set up in Pilot Project mode in the northeast; one at Itanagar and another in Assam.
Emphasising on building capacity of the trainers, the CM urged for setting up of Regional Institute of Training of Trainers (RIToT), pointing out that no such training institute exists in any one the north-eastern states presently. He proposed to setup a RIToT with funding from the Union Government requesting the Govt of India to consider providing funds for this Institute on a priority basis.
The Chief Minister further spoke on the need for hostel facilities and suggested that to fill in the need for accommodation facilities, zonal and skill sector based locations may be identified in each State and the Govt of India could consider financial assistance to the State governments to create such infrastructure. He informed that under the ‘Student-Paid’ model, the University students are unable to pay the requisite fees of Rs 15000 by the end of 3rd year of Graduation.
He requested the Prime Minister to explore if similar to the Udaan scheme; University students could be funded for skilling. He suggested that Ministry of Tribal Affairs could fund the top 50,000 students through scholarships from State Government and Central Government colleges, who can be filtered by respective Universities through a common criterion to be defined. He further suggested that a Regional NSDC handholding and Monitoring Centre may be created at Guwahati at the earliest. States should be actively engaged by this team and support extended up to the block level centres.
Union Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy also attended the meeting.
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