State labour ministers' meet on setting up of 1,500 ITIs soon

The Labour and Employment Ministry will soon convene a meeting of state labour ministers to expedite the process of setting up of the proposed 1,500 modern ITIs across the country keeping in mind the growing shortage of skilled hands in the job market.

Sources in the Ministry said the meeting will be called soon to "expedite the process of setting up of these modern ITIs as well as the proposed skill development centres" which will be set up under public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat, attending a function today said, out of the proposed 50,000 skill development centres, about 5,000 would be set up soon under the PPP mode.

These centres will impart 450 modular courses on skill development to about a million students in the next five years.

Rawat informed this at the function which saw the signing of an MoU between Manipal Education and UK-based City & Guilds to jointly impart skill development programmes under an initiative called 'India Skills' across the country.

As per the agreement, the programmes will be imparted through a network of franchisee centres across the country. "Our target is to have presence in as many as 50 districts in the next three years," MD of Manipal Education Anand Sudarshan said.

According to the Labour Ministry, the current shortfall of skilled hands in the country is about 20 to 30 per cent.

Sudarshan said they will offer a wide range of industry oriented programmes starting with retail, hospitality, banking and proficiency in English language.

The government has already formulated a national policy on skill development under which it has proposed to set up modern ITIs and skill development centres across the country especially in unserviced areas.

The policy envisages training one million workforce in the next five years and one million people every year thereafter.

The government has also undertaken an initiative to establish 11 advanced training institutes for trainers under the PPP mode.