Create more job opportunities: Himachal CM

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Monday asked the government departments to revise their policy to enable creation of additional job opportunities for youths.

"I feel youths need quality and certified skills to tap the vast potential of skilled manpower requirements," he said at a workshop here.

The chief minister said the state has approached the National Skill Development Corporation to set up four "centres of excellence" in automobile, retail, hospitality and information technology for skill development.

"The state intends to set up a website-based complete database of youths, who will get skilled in various sectors and to track their future employment," Singh said.

"As around 63 percent of the employable workforce is working in the primary sectors and as such these workers are grossly underemployed, there is a need to harness our agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors for job opportunities," he said.

The chief minister said tourism was an important sector where there was a huge scope for the youths to be employed. "We should concentrate on providing training to the youths in hospitality sector in a big way, which would pave the way for self-employment."

He said industrial sector has also grown rapidly in the state which has registered an annual compound growth of 9.4 percent since 2003.

Singh said the Skill Development Allowance Scheme was announced in 2013-14 by the Congress government immediately on assuming power to provide allowance at the rate of Rs.1,000 per month and Rs.1,500 per month for the people with disabilities to enhance their employability.

The state has also set up a tool room in Solan district's Baddi to give skill training to the youths.