Ashish Vidyarthi to address youths as part of a "skills

Bollywood actor Ashish Vidyarthi will fly down to the city next week for delivering a pep talk to young men and women of Bihar as part of World Skill Youth Day celebrations.

Vidyarthi made the announcement to this effect in a short video clip uploaded by Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM), which is organizing a three-day Skills Carnival as part of the celebrations, on its Facebook page.

Set up in 2010 by the Bihar government, the BSDM aims to empower the youth by empowering them with requisite skills to fuel the growth of the state. The mission's primary roles are to establish a wide network of training centres for the youth and to provide them with employment opportunities.

"It was, however, only by 2016 that the Mission gathered momentum as the preceding year saw Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to power on the Saat Nishchay (seven resolves) plank - the first one of which was aarthik hal, yuvaon ko bal - aiming at imparting skills to high school dropouts under the age of 25", Dipak Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, state Labour Resources department, told PTI here.

Vidyarthi is scheduled to address the participants on the inaugural day of the function on July 13.

In the nearly two and a half minutes long video clip, Vidyarthi - best remembered for playing a cold-blooded terrorist in Govind Nihalani-directed "Drohkaal" that fetched him a National Award for the Best Supporting Actor - strikes a chatty and informal note.

"When we come face to face, we shall talk of dreams, of ways to make our futures better and try to improve our understanding, our capabilities and our skills", Vidyarthi says in the video.

"The youths of Bihar are second to none when it comes to talent, hard work and perseverance. These traits have to be nurtured and resolute steps taken for onward progress", the actor says in chaste Hindi.

"So, see you all on July 13. Hope you will come. And won't you treat me to littis (a Bihari delicacy). I badly want to taste these", signs off Vidyarthi with a mischievous smile.