Punjab sets up skill development mission for jobless youth

Punjab has set up a skill development mission for unemployed youth in the state. The mission has been formulated in consultation with various stakeholders and would be executed in association with institutions such as Industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnic institutes.

"Currently, a lot of things related to skill development are going across different departments. Our objective will be to coordinate with different departments. We will try to speed up things and formulate a strategy to execute a development plan. We may carry demand assessment survey and skill gap study to identify the potential sectors. Taking a step ahead in this direction, we have already registered a skill development mission with an aim to empower the youth with requisite skills in the direction and the first meeting would be held on October 7," Rakesh Verma, principal secretary, Technical Education in Punjab told Business Standard.

The state government has allocated over Rs 500 crore for skilling 300,000 youth in its 2014-15 budget. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said the state government would make efforts towards skilling approximately 300,000 youth at a cost of over Rs 500 crore. The state government would also enter into a partnership with National Skill Development Corporation for implementation of various schemes and initiatives for skill development in the state.

The state government, in partnership with corporate houses, has already set up a construction development centre (L&T), driving and automotive skill centre (Tata Motors) in Muktsar and a training centre in retail marketing (Bharti-Walmart) in Amritsar. The state has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata Sons to improve and upgrade six industrial training institutes. The state government also proposes to set up a multi-skill development centre in partnership with the private sector at Ludhiana, with a training capacity of 10,000 candidates a year. The multi-skill development centre would be set up in accordance with global standards and would be a training-cum-production centre.

Besides, the government will strengthen and upgrade the existing skill training infrastructure in the state.