Bill in budget session for workers' training institute

The Labour Ministry will introduce a bill in Budget Session to set up National Workers' Vocational Institute to provide international standard training and certification for enhancing employability.
The Ministry has planned to make the institute functional by August this year only as senior officials don't see any opposition to the bill in the Parliament.
"We are working on a proposal to set up National Vocational Workers' Institute. A bill for the purpose will be introduced in the Budget Session of the Parliament," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said addressing a press conference here after a tripartite meeting with unions and employers on labour issues.

He further said that the institute will provide training and certification of international standards and workers holding its degrees, diplomas or certificates would be treated at par in other countries like Germany and Australia.
The Minister said that the students of the institute would not need to appear for other exams in India as well as other countries to prove their credentials.
The training framework of the institution would be at par with such institutes in developed countries like Germany and Australia, he added.

Labour Secretary Gauri Kumar said that the institute would provide degrees like any other university in the country and that is the reason for ministry for pushing the bill to provide the institute a legal status.

Earlier Dattatreya had said that Germany will be the knowledge partner to set up the institute.
According to Labour Ministry, recent studies have shown that around only 18 per cent of engineering graduates are employable due to lack of hands on practice.
The institute will leverage experiential learning, provide pathways for upward mobility and provide necessary framework and expertise in the areas of research and institutional development for vocational training.
The university would have main campus at Hyderabad in Telengana with regional campus at Ludhiana, Kolkata, Gujarat and Chennai. Land and premises are already available at Ludhiana, Kolkata and Chennai.

The Labour Minister also said that that the workers will get on the job training and will be paid Rs 35 per hour as allowance while undergoing vocational training for upgrading their skills.
He said that more than 93 per cent among workers are unorganised and government would soon launch a campaign for their welfare in association with the state government.
The Centre has planned that the state labour departments will enrol unorganised sector workers and issue them UWIN Card (Unorganised Worker Identification) bearing a unique number.
The workers' Aadhaar and Jan Dhan Bank account number will be seeded with the UWIN number to provide them various benefits like health insurance, pension.

"The card would be portable across the states as Centre would manage a common web portal for all states. Gujarat has already started work on UWIN Card whereas 11 more states have shown willingness to join the programme," Labour Secretary Gauri Kumar said.