SDCs to boost Srei rural jobs initiative

The rural employment initiative of Srei Sahaj, a subsidiary of SREI Infrastructure Finance, is likely to get a substantial infrastructural boost by the end of this month with the establishment of Skill Development Centres (SDC) in 102 districts nationwide.

These SDCs will tie up with 12,000 Common Service Centres (CSC) to enhance the functioning of Srei-Sahaj’s rural job portal — Chaakri.in — which is aimed at providing sustainable livelihood to the unskilled and semi-skilled workers in villages across Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

So far, after accumulating data from candidates through the village-level CSCs, the portal would undertake a skill-gap analysis and place suitably skilled candidates. In certain cases, training would also be virtually imparted through their in-house academy.

However, with the establishment of the district-level SDCs, job-seekers will be able to get hands-on training to fill the skill-gap in accordance to the jobs available.

This, in turn, should help minimise unemployment in rural areas that is caused by a huge mismatch between jobs available and lack of fundamental skills.

“Till now, we were only able to train candidates through the e-learning routes which is unsuitable for teaching certain skills. But with a Skill Development Centre in every district now, we will be able to go for intense, hands-on training that will make our candidates more employable. It will also enhance the scope of the initiative,” Srei Sahaj CEO Sabahat Azim said.

As for now, Chaakri.in has successfully placed more than 300 people and has vacancy for another 800. “We intend to employ over 10,000 people this financial year and have already signed up with companies such as Eureka Forbes, India Infoline and Usha Martin for their personnel requirements,” a Srei spokesperson said.