50,000 youth in 24 Naxal-affected districts to get jobs under 'Roshni'

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday launched a new skill development scheme called 'Roshni' for rural youth from 24 most critically Left-Wing Extremism affected districts in the country.

Briefing the media here, Ramesh said that the initiative aims at skilling and placement of fifty thousand youth from these districts.

"Six districts each from Jharkhand and Odisha, five from Chhattisgarh, two from Bihar and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been chosen for the scheme, which will be implemented at a cost of Rs 100 crore over the next three years," said Ramesh.

"The projects shall be funded jointly by the Central and State Governments in the ratio of 75:25 and the national level agencies shall be designated to act as monitoring and coordinating agencies for Roshni," he added.

Ramesh said that at least 50 percent of the candidates covered under the scheme shall be women and special efforts will be made to proactively cover, particularly vulnerable tribal groups on a priority basis.

"Beneficiaries aged between 18-35 years with requisite aptitude depending upon the trade or job requirements are to be selected as per the Participatory Identification of Poor. Training will be imparted through public-private and public-public partnerships. Educational institutions, corporate entities, entities that train and place for improved public service delivery, commercial and not for profit training providers will be roped in for implementing this scheme," he added.

Ramesh further said that four training models with duration ranging from three months to one year shall be taken up to meet the diverse needs of youth depending on their entry level qualifications.