Govt to spend Rs 500 cr on tech training to 540,000 people

Govt is funding 100% training fee for SC/ST students and 75% for poor students

Government will allocate Rs 400 crore more to a scheme that aims to train about 540,000 people in next five years to cater to the demand of skilled manpower in electronics manufacturing sector.

The government has already approved Rs 100 crore for the first phase of the skill development scheme launched in November 2013. The scheme has been started in eight states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

"Communications and IT Minister (Ravi Shankar Prasad) has approved second phase of scheme for skill development in electronics system design and manufacturing sector having outlay of over Rs 400 crore," an official source told PTI.

"The second phase of the scheme will be rolled out across all states and government aims to train about 5.4 lakh persons cumulatively under both the phases of scheme in next 5 years," the source said.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology is expected to share details of the second phase within a week, the official added.

Under the first phase, government has set a target of training 90,000 people through institutes affiliated to Electronic Sector Skill Council, Telecom Sector Skill Council and National Institutes of Electronics and Information Technology.

There are about 24 courses, including high level electronics system design like embedded systems, electronic packaging to mobile and other electronic product repairs, that have been approved under the scheme.

The official said that only about six months have gone since the roll out of the first phase. The government is funding 100 per cent training fee for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students and 75 per cent for students from economically weaker section.

"Institutes imparting training have to guarantee 70 per cent employment of training batches to get the benefit of the scheme," the official said.

Also, the National Institutes of Electronics and Information Technology will work to increase number of training institutes.

"Health Sector Skill Council has also approached DEITY to be part of this scheme for medical electronics. DEITY is working to formally include them under the scheme," the official said.

Government under National Policy on Electronics has objective to create employment opportunity for 2.8 crore people in manufacturing sector by 2020.